Return to Care-a-Lot
by ChristalCat
Summary: John, Dawn, and Christy are now in high school and have long since forgotten the CareBears and the adventure they shared with them. When the three of them start having the same ominous dream, they realize that Care-a-Lot once again needs their help, and they must return to the rainbow kingdom in the clouds. (ChristyxDarkHeart)
1. Chapter 1

An alarm blared from beside her bed. _Ugh, 6am… Time to get up for school…_ She thought. Christy reached her hand over to her phone to shut off the obnoxious sound that interrupted her dreams. Already it was fading, but something about the dream was familiar. She would have liked to see more, but oh well. It was just a dream, anyway. She lay in her bed for a little longer with her eyes shut, praying that she wouldn't have to get up today. _Please let it be a snow day…_ Christy slowly began to emerge from her bed, throwing the sheets off of her as her feet touched the floor. Summoning every ounce of her will she managed to stand herself up. She cracked open the blinds a little. _Dang… A perfect, beautiful day. Well that blows._ Christy started her daily morning routine. Once she finished doing her makeup she stared blankly at her closet and shuffled back and forth through her clothes.

"I never have anything to wear…" She sighed. Finally she settled on a red top and a pair of blue jeans and then she checked herself out in the mirror. She had decided that today she would wear her hair down, though normally she'd wear it in a ponytail or a half-up hairstyle. She glanced at the top of her head and noticed a cowlick. "Guess it's a hat day."

She grabbed her favorite baseball cap that her dad gave her when she was younger. It was old and worn, but the purple color was still vibrant and somehow the hat could still be stretched enough to fit her.

"Christy! You're gonna be late for school!" Her mom shouted from down the stairs.

"Crap!" Christy shouted as she quickly grabbed her backpack and ran down the stairs. She grabbed the lunch her mom had made for her and jumped into her car. The engine turned over and Christy floored the gas pedal. She was lucky her high school was only a few miles away, or else she'd be completely toast. Once she parked, she took for her classroom, making it into her seat just as the bell rang.

"That was a close one, Christy!" Her friend, Dawn said. "What took you so long?"

"Let's just say my bed and I couldn't bear to be apart." Christy smiled.

Dawn chuckled. "Well I'm glad to hear you _finally_ have a boyfriend!"

"Pft, Dawn, you don't have one either! The closest thing you got is your brother."

The blond boy sitting behind Dawn leaned his head in close to theirs. "Gross, Christy! Anyway, who'd wanna date this hot mess? Dawn's hopeless!"

"Oh, what, just because you somehow managed to get a girl to date you, you think you're all cool now? Newsflash, kiddo, you're not. And you should treat your elders with some respect." Dawn retorted coyly.

"I'm only 4 minutes younger than you!" John said, flustered at the way his twin sister always lorded her status as the elder sibling over his head. "And anyway, she kissed me last night! That's right, I got my first kiss before both of you!" He laughed.

Dawn and Christy shrugged and looked at each other. "At least we aren't paying anyone to kiss us," they said together, "But you are!"

"What are you talking about?"

Dawn had a mischievous look on her face. She whispered, "You and I both know you're doing her English homework for her, Johnny boy."

John blushed. "S-so what? She needs help, she's really busy! I'm just tutoring her, that's all!"

"Uh huh, _sure_." Christy said sarcastically. Christy and Dawn both knew he really was just tutoring her, but John was just too easy to make fun of.

"John, Dawn, and Christy! If you three don't stop talking during my class, I'm going to send you to detention!"

They each apologized and were quiet for most of the rest of class. It was just another boring calculus period- nothing new. Well, by "new", Christy means that it's always the same- more topics and formulas that just go right over her head. She still did her best to do well in the class, but for as hard as she studied, she always maintained C's on the exams. Maybe today would be the day though, the day she finally receives a good mark. At the end of class their teacher passed out the graded exams and everyone took a breath and garnered the courage to look down at their paper. Christy did the same, ready to jump for joy at what she believed could have been her best grade in the class.

"A D?!" Christy shouted. Well, whisper-shouted anyway. _How could I have done even worse on this exam? I studied every single day!_ She buried her head in her hands. This day was not going well at all and it was only first period. She turned back to her friends for the usual grade-sharing ritual.

"Ugh, I was _so_ worried about this exam! I barely studied at all! But I still managed a B!" John said, proudly, while he showed off his paper.

"Oh, me too- I can't believe I aced this exam; it was so hard." Dawn replied.

In her mind, Christy rolled her eyes. It always made her so mad that these two could just pull a good grade out of thin air without even trying.

"So…?" Dawn tried to coax the grade out of her.

"It looks like I really _am_ only good at shooting marbles…" Christy attempted to joke.

"Hey, that's a pretty neat talent. I wish I could shoot marbles as good as you!" John said. Dawn and John both knew that Christy had been feeling down on herself recently, for whatever reason, so they did whatever they could to make her feel better.

"Heh, yeah, well, if you want to trade talents with me, go ahead! I'll take being a genius over being a marble prodigy any day! Nobody even plays that stupid old game anymore." Christy smiled sadly. It was a shame, for some reason she had this talent to shoot marbles at impossible angles and accomplish amazing feats with them, but in this day and age hardly anyone even owned marbles anymore. Her only talent was a total waste.

John smiled at her. "C'mon, Christy, why don't you show us a trick? I bet you still have it in you." He nudged Christy with his elbow until she gave an answer.

Christy chuckled. "Oh, please! You guys are still impressed with that old stuff?" Christy took out her pouch of marbles. For some reason she always carried it around with her, even though she almost never used it. She took out one of the glassy orbs and rubbed it; after so long of not taking one of them out, she'd forgotten how natural a marble felt in her hand. She looked around the room for a target, her eyes focused on the light switch at the other end of the room. _This class period could use a little excitement_. She focused on the space she was in, picturing the angles of everything, automatically processing every piece about the room in her mind. Within a few seconds, she knew her course. She took aim at the wall directly next to her.

The marble bounced off of the wall, against the ceiling, and onto the back of someone's chair, making slight plinking sounds as it went. It then flew towards the back wall and shot forward for the rim of the white board, which angled the marble down towards the teachers office chair and then finally over to the light switch, flicking all of the lights off.

There were no windows so everything went pitch black. John and Dawn were snickering behind her, trying to keep themselves under control but being completely unable to. Christy smiled confidently. _Guess I still got it!_

The teacher, however, was far less amused. She turned on the lights and sternly spoke, "Who did that?"

No one replied.

"If no one tells me who turned off those lights and disrupted my classroom right this moment, so help me I will send everyone here to the principal's office!"

Christy was feeling particularly rebellious today, so she raised her hand. "It was me."

"I should have known…" The calculus teacher shook her head. "I want you _and_ your friends laughing over there to go straight to the principal's office."

"Wait- but John and Dawn didn't do anything!"

"I don't care, you three are getting on my last nerve! Now go!"

Christy shot a look of apology to her friends, but they shrugged it off. The three of them packed up their stuff and walked out of the room. The eyes of their classmates shot daggers in their backs as they went.

"I'm really sorry, you guys…" Christy said. She always ruined everything.

"No way, Chris! That was awesome!" John said.

"Yeah, that was seriously amazing. One of these days you've got to teach me how to do that!" Dawn continued.

Christy took her best friends into a hug. They always knew how to cheer her up, didn't they?

"Anyway, we'll just get an in school suspension. It's not like we've ever gotten into trouble before, right?" John explained.

"Yeah that's true…" But Christy's eyes were already beginning to tear up. Getting in trouble or talking to authority always made her cry involuntarily. It was pretty pathetic but there was nothing she could do about it. Dawn grabbed Christy's hand and squeezed it tight.

"Let's just get this over with." She said.

They went into the office one by one and explained their stories, although there wasn't really much to explain. The principal almost seemed to be annoyed that they were sent to his office for something so petty, as if it was a waste of his time. He assigned them all lunch detention and sent them back to class in time for second period to start.

"Well- that was really lame." Dawn said.

"Yeah, but at least we didn't get more than a single lunch detention. Plus, we'll get a lot done!" John was always thinking about getting his homework done super early. Dawn, on the other hand, was much lazier.

"Um, yeah… How about I catch up on my sleep, instead?" Dawn laughed.

"Sounds good to me… I hardly slept last night!" Christy said, opening the door to their next classroom.

The bell rang as they took their seats in second period. _Finally, physics class. Something important I'm actually good at for a change._ Maybe it was her natural talent at marbles that made her so good at physics, or the other way around; but whatever it was, this was the class where she was really able to shine. Everything just made sense, the way the forces counteract each other and add up, the way angles and shapes affect trajectories, the way gravity pulled on objects and changed their speed- everything just worked.

Christy vigorously took notes and enjoyed every second of it. She loved finishing the practice problems before the teacher was even halfway through explaining them. Before she knew it, class was over. The next two periods also passed by in one giant blur, and suddenly it was lunch time. Christy packed a book she was supposed to read for literature and trudged off with her friends for their punishment. After sitting down, she took out the book and began to read, but soon enough she was out like a light.

Images flashed in her brain, familiar images, but also somewhat obscure. Short, chubby, and colorful figures pranced around on top of… clouds? It was difficult to make out exactly what was happening. Her dream then immediately morphed into something more sinister. There was a dark figure looming over her, just beside her desk. Christy was paralyzed. Suddenly her point of view changed and she was staring at herself sleeping there as the shadowy figure outstretched his arms to grab her. Christy shouted at herself, desperately trying to wake Christy up, but it wouldn't work. Out of nowhere, rainbow-colored beams pierced the shadow and it dissipated into nothing.

"Christy…" Something said in her mind. _What…?_ She tried to say.

Again it spoke her name in a soothing but stern voice. "Christy…" The voice was beckoning to her, and without saying anything more than her name Christy knew that it wanted her to follow it, to find it.

She jolted awake. Her breath was heavy, like she'd just run a marathon. Her friends looked at her with concern. "Christy are you okay?" They asked.

"Y-yeah… I, uh… just had this really crazy dream."

Dawn's eyes widened and she glanced at her brother.

In a serious tone, John asked, "What kind of a dream?"

Just as Christy began to explain herself, the detention monitor shushed them. "I'll tell you guys after detention."


	2. Chapter 2

"Alright, tell us." John demanded. It had already been a few hours since Christy fell asleep, and now they were out of school, sitting in Christy's car in the school parking lot.

Christy hesitated. The dream was so strange, she could hardly remember a thing about it. Not to mention she was also embarrassed- and why did they have to know about her dream anyway? They hadn't stopped pestering her about it since lunch.

"Alright, alright. Well, there was this… I dunno, some kind of castle. But it was white and puffy, kind of like a cloud. And there were these… these things, I don't even know how to describe them. But they were short, and were every color you could imagine. And then there was this… dark… figure, or person, hovering over me. And a bright light, and then someone was calling my name." Christy finished and waited for what seemed like forever for John and Dawn to reply.

The twins exchanged a confused, but stern look. Christy creased her brows.

"Well, are you guys going to share with the class?" She said, now becoming irritated. "I don't have your freaky twin telepathy, too, ya know!"

Dawn let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, Christy… It's just that, John and I had that exact same dream just a few nights ago."

"What?!" Christy exclaimed, "Why didn't you guys tell me?"

"It wasn't all that weird to us, Christy. Dawn and I share dreams sometimes. But you… The fact that you had this dream… We don't think it's a good sign."

Dawn grabbed Christy's hand. "Christy, do you remember when we went to that summer camp six years ago?"

Christy nodded. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Okay, well, do you remember what happened there?"

"I remember everyone was mean to us and told us we were losers… And we made up this silly game where we pretended like we had to save the world from this evil guy who turned all the campers into jerks…"

Dawn interrupted her, "And are you _sure_ that it was all just our imagination?"

"W-well, yeah, I mean, kids have pretty crazy imaginations, and it wasn't like we were having fun there anyway. I'm pretty sure it was all just a silly game."

John looked at Dawn and said, "That's what we thought too… At first. But since we had that dream, we aren't so sure. The things we saw and the things we did, Christy… That white place you saw in your dream, that was Care-a-Lot. And those creatures were the Carebears. I'm not sure if you remember that part, but surely you remember Dark Heart?"

"My imaginary friend? Come on, you can't tell me he was real! He had hair and eyes as red as tomatoes, and he could do magic!" Christy almost started laughing. Were these two actually serious?

"Christy, this is serious. You can choose not to believe it, but we think something's wrong. The Carebears need our help, we're sure of it!"

"Are you listening to yourselves right now?" Christy said, "I mean, come on, rainbow bears and boys with magic powers? You've got to be kidding me."

John was almost angry. "Whatever, Christy, just think about it. We'll see you tomorrow." John and Dawn both left Christy's car and headed for home.

 _Those guys… They're just kidding around I bet! Well, they're not gonna get any kind of reaction outta me._

Christy's mind was fogged on her way home, she couldn't think about anything except her dream, and the strange way that the twins acted. She wasn't hungry when she got home, so Christy just went straight to bed. For a moment she thought there was no way that she would be able to sleep, but somehow within a few minutes she fell unconscious.

She had the same dream, only this time, she saw her imaginary friend, Dark Heart. He smiled at her and reached his hand out to her. "Christy, do you remember me?" He said. He had blue eyes now, for some reason. She couldn't remember why. She liked them though, his blue eyes that were as blue as the deep ocean. And that hair… as red as the flames of a campfire. The boy suddenly morphed into a red wolf, who snatched at her with his fangs. She tried to run, but her body moved as if she was trying to run in water. She turned around to face the wolf, who lunged her, plunging his teeth into her throat.

Christy was still breathing heavily when she woke up. "Gosh, what _was_ that?" She said to herself. It was still really late, she wouldn't have to be up for school in hours. Why were these memories returning to her now? And what _were_ they, exactly? It's not like any of what they thought happened at camp actually happened. Her parents had made her see a psychiatrist after all the strange things she used to talk about as a kid. Boys who turn into animals aren't real. There was no floating city in the clouds. And there was no such thing as magical rainbow bears who watch over the Earth.

Her phone started ringing. "What is it now…" She said as she picked it up and pressed it to her ear. "Hello?"

"Christy! Thank God you're awake. Look outside your window." Dawn said.

"What? Ugh, fine…" Christy grumbled to herself as she got out of bed and peered out the curtains of her window.

"Oh my- What the heck is this?" Christy practically shouted into the phone as she saw the impossible. Dawn and John were outside of her house, with… Well, with a small red bear cub.

"Just come downstairs. We can explain."

Christy was still shaken by what she saw, but she wasn't about to argue with her eyes. Either this was a dream, or she was really seeing what she thought she was seeing. She quickly threw on some clothes and put a few things into an overnight bag, just in case this turned into some crazy adventure from a child's cartoon. Careful not to wake up her family, she crept her way downstairs and outside the house. Sure enough, the bear was still there.

It spoke. "Christy, it's so good to see you!" The red bear said as it gave Christy's legs a hug.

"Wh-what… What's going on here?" Christy said, sternly, pleading to John and Dawn for an answer.

The red bear looked hurt. "Don't tell me you don't remember! I'm Tenderheart, a CareBear!"

"Oh trust me… I remember… I just… Well, you don't really exist, so, what the heck is happening right now?"

Dawn looked over at John, then back at Christy. "Christy, we tried to explain before. It _is_ real. All of that stuff that happened to us that summer, it all really happened. Those dreams that we've been having are no coincidence."

"What do you mean?"

Tenderheart began to explain, "We need your help, Christy. John and Dawn's too. Something's happened in Care-A-Lot, something big, and we can't stop it on our own."

"And you need our help, why? It's not like we have special powers."

"Maybe you can't do a CareBear stare, but you three have something special that us bears don't. You saved Dark Heart, remember? We couldn't have changed him without your help. We need you to come with us to Care-A-Lot. Please, you're all we've got." Tenderheart desperately explained.

"Well… I guess since this is just a dream, it wouldn't hurt. Why not, let's go!" Christy said. Dawn grabbed Christy's hands excitedly. No doubt, John and Dawn were already in cloud 9. They were the ones who claimed to actually be in that cloud city with the bears, after all. They were probably super excited to be going back.

Tenderheart snapped his fingers and out of nowhere a rainbow vehicle appeared and they all climbed in. Surprisingly, though it seemed to be made of clouds, it was as solid as any regular car. Once everyone was in, it took off into the air.


	3. Chapter 3

No sooner after take-off did they land in the realm of the Carebears. Christy was immediately floored by the cloud kingdom and the bright rainbows that stretched throughout it. How something like that could possibly exists was beyond the scope of her imagination. This had to have been some kind of acid trip- there was no way she wasn't high right now even though she was extremely straight edge. Christy turned around to look at Jon and Dawn in the backseat to see if they were just as shell-shocked as she. To her surprise and almost dismay, Jon and Dawn were smiling and laughing and pointing all the sights out, reminiscing of old times.

They pulled up to a landing strip and another CareBear waved them down with glowing wands. "We're back!" Tenderheart said to the other bear cub, who greeted him with a warm hug.

"Thank goodness you brought them! Things are getting worse… You'd better go to the meeting room, and hurry!" The bear said with a bubbly urgency that made Christy simultaneously amused and concerned. Christy placed her foot gently on the clouds, testing the strength of the puffy white floor and praying that she would not fall through. Jon and Dawn jumped out of the car and excitedly greeted the bear that they once took care of as children. Christy was still unsure, but with wobbly legs she was finally able to let both feet stand on the impossible ground. Tenderheart led the teens to a huge heart-shaped building.

A purple horse standing on two legs and a yellow bear walked towards them at the front of the building, followed by a lion.

The purple horse spoke first. "Hello, Jon and Dawn, it's so good to see you again." The horse grabbed their hands and smiled. He turned to Christy and said, "I'm not sure if you remember me, but I am Noble Heart, and this is True Heart bear and Brave Heart lion. Years ago, you helped us defeat and change Dark Heart."

Christy only nodded. She did remember that, but she didn't remember helping the CareBears, she only remembered aiding Dark Heart in kidnapping the Care Bears for his evil plot.

The yellow bear spoke next. "Christy, I know what you're thinking. While you may have helped Dark Heart do his evil deeds in the beginning, _you_ were the only one who was able to make him choose to become good. And that is why we have brought you here."

"It was your courage and kindness that changed that boy's heart, Christy." Brave Heart continued.

"Okay… but where are you going with this?" Christy asked.

The CareBears and cousin exchanged looks. Noble Heart replied, "We need your help to save the world again, you and Jon and Dawn. The three of you are the only ones who can put a stop to the threat."

"You won't be alone though, you'll have us, and a little… professional help." True Heart gestured to Brave Heart lion, who went to the back of the room and opened a door, letting in a red-haired teenaged boy.

Jon and Dawn both looked at Christy, who was wearing a surprised expression on her face.

The red-haired boy smiled and ran to Christy for a hug.

"Dark… Heart…?" Christy said as he embraced her. She pulled away from him for a moment and peered into his deep blue eyes. He was older now but there was no doubting that those blue eyes and that deep red hair belonged to her old 'imaginary friend'.

Dark Heart smiled at her and she hugged him again. "It's actually Drake Hartley, now."

Christy chuckled, "What?"

"My name. What, you thought I'd go by 'Dark Heart' forever?" He smiled down at her. He was significantly taller than Christy now.

She smirked. "Well, it's _very_ subtle, doesn't sound like your old name at all!" She playfully flicked him on the forehead. "I'm still gonna call you Dark Heart." She blushed as she realized they had been hugging for a long time now, and that Jon and Dawn were giggling quietly to themselves.

Dark Heart must have realized it, too, because with a nervous laugh he let go of Christy. "Come on, you gotta call me by my real-boy name! You're the one who made me this way, y'know!"

Christy smiled. "Alright, _Drake_."

The bears smiled at the two of them, happy to see friends reunited once again. "The threat can wait for tonight. Looks like you two have a lot of catching up to do. And Jon, Dawn, how would you like to see the rest of the CareBears?" True Heart said to the teens.

Jon and Dawn were practically exploding from excitement as they screamed, "Yes!" to the yellow bear's proposition. Then Dawn and Jon snuck a cheeky wink to Christy as they left the room with the bears. Drake did his best to hide his blush. He had never been alone with a girl before, especially not… well, the one girl that actually mattered. Christy, on the other hand, while on the inside she was extremely nervous and unsure, on the outside she was calm and cool. She had been alone with guys many times, this one was no different.

Drake worked up the courage to take her hand. "Come on, I'll show you around Care-a-Lot."

It was awkward at first. They hadn't seen each other in so many years, they were practically strangers. And yet, she couldn't help but feel strangely intimate with him, too. There was some kind of bond they shared, whether it was because they knew each other at their worst or because in the past they had been able to help each other realize their best selves. She subconsciously gripped his hand a little tighter.

"So... I didn't know you _could_ get older. Aren't you, like, immortal or something?"

"Well, I _was_ immortal, Christy. Something in me changed that day when I stopped being evil. I'm not really sure why or how, but I became human. I can't even use my powers anymore."

Christy was a little disappointed. "So what you're saying is, you can't transform into cute animals anymore? What good are you, then?" She grinned.

For a second Drake thought she was seriously angry at him. "Oh, don't worry, I'm good for _plenty_ of stuff." He winked.

Christy blushed. "Yeah? Doubt it. What kind of stuff?"

Drake let a sly smirk grin across his face. "Well, I'm awesome at... baking for starters."

"Oh... _baking."_ Christy laughed. "Is that all, Drake Hartley?"

"Well, no. But most girls are impressed by that!"

Christy punched him in the shoulder playfully. "It's gonna take a lot more than baking to impress _this_ girl, Drake! I mean, have you met Jon?"

Drake stuttered out, "Y-yeah, he _is_ a pretty stand-up guy..."

Was that jealousy she heard in his voice? She changed the subject. "What about school?"

"I've been going to school since that summer! The CareBears set me up at a school nearby, and they took care of me as a kid, teaching me about being human and all that. Although I don't think I have all the nuances of social graces down yet."  
"I can tell!" She said while chuckling. "So you've been on Earth all this time, but you never came to see me?"

Drake sighed and wore a sad expression. "The CareBears told me that it would be better if... you just forgot about me and Care-a-Lot."

"What- Why would you think that? We were friends!"

"Christy... It made sense. You were young, and it was fine to talk about magic bears and a boy that can do magic at that age. But if we let you and the twins continue to believe that it was real, people might think... well, they might think. It was better this way."

"Yeah, well, I disagree!" Christy frowned. "You should have reached out to me... I really missed you."

Drake's heart skipped. "Trust me, Christy, I know how that feels."

They walked up to a big castle, and next to it was a heart-shaped meter.

Drake pointed to the meter. "This is the Caring Meter, it's how the bears can tell what's going on down on Earth."

Christy studied the meter levels. "It's so... low..."

"The lowest it's ever been. That's why we brought you guys here."


	4. Chapter 4

WOW! So it's been wayyy too long since I last uploaded anything, I apologize for that! Regular updates should be coming from now on, I swear!

Christy looked into his eyes again. She still didn't quite understand why she was in Care-A-Lot. She wasn't special, she had no magic powers, and she certainly wasn't "camp champ" anymore, so what gives?

"Alright, so," Christy began, "What exactly do you think _we're_ going to do about it?"

Drake looked down at the brunette. " Well… To be honest, I don't really know, Christy. They seem to think you can help, and you helped me, so maybe they're hoping you'll do the same thing?"

"What, so I'm just supposed to, like, foolishly fall into a bad guy's trap again and ruin everything, while Jon and Dawn save the day?" Christy couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, even if Drake wasn't implying that.

Drake's eyes widened. "What? Christy, you _know_ that's not what I meant. And anyway, if it wasn't for you doing all that stuff, I would never have become a good guy, and the CareBears would be dead!"

"So?" Christy folded her arms and looked away.

"So… What I'm trying to say is, you were a really important part of saving the world, even if you don't know it. And you know what? Yeah, maybe you fell for my evil plan, but who cares?"

"I care… Isn't that, like, the slogan of this place? Yeah, I care _a_ lot that I was a jerk and that I was stupid and played into your game."

Drake grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look at him.

"Christy, I'm glad that you fell for me. I mean, for my _plan_. It means we're friends now, and I couldn't be happier about that. And you're not stupid, and you're not a jerk. You never were, and you aren't now. So quit it already, would ya?"

Christy could feel tears forming in her eyes. _Crap. Don't cry, Chris…_ She thought to herself. She always cries like this.

"Okay… then, we should go talk to the Bears, right? Get intel on what's going on?"

"Yeah, I mean, if you're done looking around."

Christy turned her head to look at the cloud kingdom. "Meh, you've seen one part of this place, you've seen it all. Let's get outta here."

They walked back to the heart-shaped meeting hall. Tender Heart and Brave Heart Lion were already there, as if they knew they'd be coming back early. Tender Heart smiled, but Christy could see the concern in his eyes.

"Christy, back so soon?" The red bear said.

Christy walked closer to the bear. "Yeah… I'm just ready to kick this bad guy's butt! Tell me about him!"

Tender Heart gave a meaningful look to Brave Heart Lion, who nodded in some silent agreement. He walked closer to Christy and outstretched his paw.

Christy took the lion's paw and was led over to the table, where some papers had been laid out. "This is…" She started.

" _This_ is all the information we have on our enemy. We've managed to snap a few pictures, with Dark Heart's…"

" _Drake_." Drake said, sternly, as if this was something he had to deal with all the time.

Brave Heart Lion continued, with an annoyed look on his face, "With _Drake's_ help."

"Wow…" Christy said. She looked closely at the picture of the enemy the bears were facing. It was a tall, menacing, shadowy creature. "This looks… exactly like the figure I saw in my dreams."

The two CareBears were shocked. "You've been seeing him in your dreams?" Tender Heart asked.

"Y-yeah, I thought you guys were giving me those dreams?"

"We gave you dreams of _us, our kingdom_ , not of him… This is strange. Perhaps you have a greater tie to this than even we originally understood…"

"What are you talking about?" Drake asked, "What do you two know?"

"We _don't_ know, that's the thing." Tender Heart said.

Brave Heart Lion continued, "But what we do know is, we need you guys to go out onto Earth and search for him. We would do it ourselves, but we can't leave Care-A-Lot. We have to make sure that the world doesn't fall completely into ruin."

The red bear handed Christy a few papers. "We've narrowed down his location to a few places, we'll need you all to go there. There are three locations, so Jon and Dawn will go together, and you two will take the other spots."

Christy shot a sideways glance at Drake. Her heart sank a little. "Understood. I'll go find the twins. Drake, why don't you get going?"

"Y-yeah, sure, I'll head out. Let me see one of those files." Drake said as Christy handed him one of the papers. Their fingers brushed against each other and Drake forced back a blush. "Oh, hey, let me have your cell number, in case… you know, one of us finds anything."

"Yeah, sure, and I'll share Jon and Dawn's with you, too." Christy took his cell phone from him, which she was surprised that he even had, and then said, "Alright! See ya round!" as she ran off to look for her friends.

Drake smiled and waved back sheepishly. "Well… goodbye I guess…" He whispered under his breath, as Christy had left the room too quick for a proper farewell. _Off to Arizona, I guess._

As soon as Christy left the room, her mind was a whirlwind of thought. "Oh my _God_ , I cannot believe I said that! 'See ya round!', what kind of a goodbye even _is_ that? You coulda hugged him, you coulda shook his hand, you coulda done literally anything, _but_ that. Ugh! Stupid, stupid, stupid!" She sat down and knocked her fists lightly against her head.

Jon and Dawn slowly walked up to Christy and tapped her on the shoulder. Christy jumped.

"Hey… Christy… What's going on…?" Jon asked, almost a little too scared to even want to know.

"Oh… It's… nothing. We have an assignment! You and Jon are going to… uh… Utah? Yeah, Utah. And I'm going to California." She handed them the files. "We're looking for this shadow guy and we're supposed to go back to Care-A-Lot if we find him."

"Um okay… But, are you sure you don't want to talk about it… whatever that was?" Dawn said as she placed a hand on Christy's shoulder.

"Yeah, seriously, it's nothing."

"Alright… well, how was your little rendezvous with Dark Heart?"

" _Drake_ is… very nice! I'm really happy to see him again."

"Anything _interesting_ happen?" Dawn said eagerly.

Christy's face turned bright red. "N-No! Come _on_ , Dawn! It's _Dark_ _Heart_. He's the guy who tricked me, remember? As if! I could never like that guy, _please_. Give me a break!"

Jon and Dawn didn't believe her at all, but they decided not to force her.

The three of them said their goodbyes and found a couple cloud cars and zoomed away.


	5. Chapter 5

Drake Hartley was already on his way to Pheonix, Arizona by the time the others had a chance to meet up with Christy. His mind was a blur of thoughts. He was on his way to hopefully find an evil entity much like his past self and the memory of those dark times was taking its toll on him. The embarrassment and the shame came flooding back to him all at once when the CareBears first warned him of the threat, but that alone was not so terrible. The Bears had always been good to Drake, and they so easily were able to put all the grievances of the past behind him. It wasn't the Bears he was concerned about. As soon as heard that _she_ was coming up to Care-A-Lot, he felt sick to his stomach. Of course he was overjoyed at the thought of seeing his Christy again, but he was also terrified of what she might think of him. She was the one who believed in his goodness in the first place, but so many years had past since then, and he worried that the memory of him would have only soured by the time the Bears made her remember her time at camp.

It was more than just those thoughts that had clouded his mind now, though. He hadn't expected her to be so... beautiful. Drake had wanted to visit her many times over the years, but he just couldn't bring himself to. Whether it was not wanting to burden her, or just plain being too nervous to see the girl that saved his life, he simply couldn't do it. So when he saw her for the first time, she was nearly like an angel, amazing in every way and just as funny and wonderful as he remembered her.

But then Christy left so abruptly. Was he reading this situation wrong? She held his hand, blushed when he looked at her, laughed and had fun with him, but was that all just an act? She seemed so eager to leave, like she'd been wanting to do that all along. Drake hoped it was all a misunderstanding and she was just worried about the evil presence, but he somehow doubted it. _Why would a girl like her ever love a guy like me?_ He thought to himself as he began to approach the town he was sent to.

His phone GPS pinged out of nowhere, alerting him that he had finally arrived. Drake parked the floating cloud car in a mall parking lot and pressed a button on the bottom of the dash board; the cloud car suddenly turned into a perfectly normal-looking red SUV. Drake grabbed the keys and locked it.

He took a look around the parking lot. He didn't see anything evil- but he wasn't really expecting it to be so easy anyway. Did the Bears have a plan, or did they just want them to walk aimlessly around town until something happened? Drake didn't really know. He decided he'd walk around the mall, get bearings for how the town is doing. If the shadow was here, the demeanor of the people around town would surely reflect it. It had been so long since he last walked around on Earth that he had forgotten what it was like to see so many _human_ people. Over time, he had gotten used to seeing only the Bears, and let himself forget that they aren't the reality for most on the ground.

Everyone at the mall _seemed_ pretty normal, but he could never be sure, he wasn't exactly socially adept. He paced the length of the mall back and forth numerous times, seeing absolutely nothing to report. He walked in and out of stores, and even stopped to smell some men's cologne. _Maybe Christy would like this..._ He put the bottle back on the shelf. Even if it would make her like him, he didn't have any money anyway. He looked at the men's clothing stores and wished he had the money to buy new, trendy outfits. All he had was the jeans and t-shirts that the Bears made or collected for him from their Earth travels, and they weren't the kind any normal guy would be wearing out in public. Today he wore the nicest outfit he owned, a plain white t-shirt and dark blue jeans, he hoped it was enough to make himself blend in.

Just as Drake was about to give up on this convenient location, a fight broke out in the middle of the mall. From what he could make of it, a group of friends started fighting over something, and now were in an all-out brawl. Drake rushed to the fight and put himself in the middle of it.

One of the kids yelled, "Get out of the way, man!" and attempted to shove Drake to the side, but Drake was bigger and stronger than the 14-year-old kid. "Quit it!" Another boy yelled, probably the guy's side kick. He tried to hold Drake's arms back but Drake wasn't going to let him.

From the other side of the fight, another boy kicked Drake in the back of the knees, causing Drake to stumble and let the other boy go. "Let go of him! He's mine!"

 _Why are they so dead-set on fighting?_ Drake stood up as tall and as intimidating as he could make himself look and yelled, "Shut up and stop fighting! I _will_ beat you all up!"

The boys stared blankly at him in disbelief, the mall went silent. Drake gulped. _This is awkward..._ As a bead of sweat ran down his face, he said, "Look, guys, I don't know what started this fight, but we're gonna finish it _right now_."

The boys looked at each other and nodded devilishly. "Yeah, move out of the way and we _will_ finish this."

Drake placed a hand firmly on the shoulder of the boy who seemed to be the ring leader of this whole circus and said, "No. Not like that, you won't. Now, tell me, what's this all about?"

The boy looked defiantly up at Drake. "They started it," he said, pointing to the kids on the other side of Drake, "They said that Pokémon sucks!"

Drake was dumbfounded. "So... this _whole_ thing happened because those two guys over there don't like Pokémon?"

"Well, yeah, it's a totally mean thing to say, ya know?" One of the other kids said in the defense of the situation.

"Oh my God..." Drake muttered under his breath. "Okay, you guys over there who insulted Pokémon, don't do that, kay? Obviously these guys really like it and you shouldn't make fun of things that other people like, even if you think it's stupid. Everyone's choice of video games and television shows is valid."

The kids who were offended looked at each other with smug looks on their faces.

"Now, now," Drake began, "That doesn't mean you guys aren't at fault, either. Just because someone says that something you like 'sucks', doesn't mean you have the right to beat them up. How about next time, you just be honest and tell them that really hurt your feelings? You're just making asse-ah, fools of yourselves."

They nodded sheepishly.

"Alright, now you guys go make up with each other, and if you start fighting again, I'll kick your butts." Drake said. He wasn't really intending on beating them up, but he felt like they wouldn't listen to him if he didn't emphasize his physical superiority. He watched them as they each apologized to each other and made up again.

The hair on Drake's skin pricked. He looked around him, something wasn't right. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a dark figure leaning against the wall near where the kids were standing. Drake turned to look where the shadow was, but when his eyes met the wall, he vanished. That must've been the shadow the Bears were talking about! Just as Drake was about to take off after it, someone tugged on his arm. It was a girl, a brunette. _Christy?_

It wasn't Christy, but she sure did look like her.

"Hey," She said, "Me and my friends thought that was really cool. Wanna come catch a movie with us?" The girl blushed, she said her name but Drake didn't catch it.

Flattered, but also extremely annoyed, Drake declined the offer. First time in his whole life a girl ever asked him out, and it had to be when he was in pursuit of a bad guy. He felt bad but he had to go. He waved goodbye to the group of girls she was walking back towards and ran off in the direction he thought the shadow had gone in.


	6. Chapter 6

"Jon, do you think something's up with Christy? She seemed kinda off back there…" Dawn said, her voice trailing off.

Jon was busy trying to navigate to Salt Lake City, Utah in the cloud car. The CareBears never bothered to input any sort of GPS device into it, since apparently they always know where they're going without even looking at a map. Jon and Dawn, on the other hand, did not. The Bears supplied them with a simple map of the area, but Jon hadn't looked at a map seriously once in his entire life. He was pretending to know what he was doing so Dawn wouldn't make fun of him.

Finally, Jon looked up from his map and the steering wheel of the car and replied, "I dunno… You know Christy, she can be pretty dramatic. I'll bet she said something dumb in front of Dark Heart and now she's worried he won't like her."

"Don't you think it's a little weird for Christy to go after a guy who tricked her and used her for evil?"

Jon paused for a moment to look over the map again, confused. Then he said, "Honestly, it _is_ a little strange. But at the same time, Dark Heart became a good guy _because_ of his affection for Christy. Their story is basically the plot of a gushy vampire romance novel."

Dawn nodded. "You're totally right!" She giggled.

"And anyway, we've all changed a lot since then. I mean, it's not like you're still running around with pig tails in your hair. I bet Dark Heart has gone through a lot of his own changes, too. He seems like a good guy now."

Dawn was silent for a few seconds. "Wow, Jon, since when are you so deep?"

"Since I'm trying to distract you from the fact that I have no idea where we are going!" Jon shouted, helplessly throwing his hands in the air and relinquishing the map to Dawn.

"What? Are you serious, Jon?!" Dawn said, snatching the map away from his hands.

With Dawn at the helm, the twins eventually made it to Salt Lake, but not without bickering about directions nearly the whole way. They parked at a local mall parking lot and disguised the car, a trick the CareBears had showed them in the past.

"Let's just walk around town, this seems like a pretty busy area, I bet we'll find a sign of disharmony somewhere around here." Jon said, and Dawn agreed.

The city had been decorated with bright lights for the holiday season. Everywhere they went, the lights glowed on the trees and buildings almost like a fire against the dark night sky. It was so beautiful, the twins had nearly forgotten why they were there in the first place.

Jon and Dawn were freezing, though. Even with the warm clothes that the Bears gave them, they were shivering. "W-we need to g-get inside somewhere…" Dawn said to Jon, who was hoping that she would say that so he wouldn't have to sound un-manly. They headed into an indoor/outdoor mall that was heated despite being open to the outside air.

"I've never seen a mall like this before… It's so cool! Look! There's even a small river in here!" Dawn exclaimed. Jon smiled. It _was_ actually pretty cool.

They walked around the mall, both resisting the urge to shop at their favorite stores. Dawn saw the Disney store and tried to run in. She pouted when Jon grabbed her arm and pulled her back. "Now isn't the time, Dawn. We can always come back when we're done."

They paced the length of the mall back and forth, hoping for something, but beginning to lose hope. They were, after all, only looking in one small part of the city. But it was really promising, the mall was packed full of people.

"How about we split up?" Jon asked. "We might catch it faster that way."

"I don't know, Jon… When people split up in these kinds of situations, something bad _always_ happens to the girl! I wouldn't want you to get hurt." She said, sticking her tongue out at him.

" _Ha Ha_ , very funny… If any of us is getting hurt, it's the blonde klutz standing in front of me. So, you in or what?"

"Yeah, okay, but keep your cell phone on, just in case I need you!" She said. Jon nodded, gave her a hug, and they went their separate ways.

Dawn didn't like being in such a crowded place without her brother. They were always together, and Dawn felt much safer and more comfortable when her brother was around. She had been without him many times before, but they still needed each other. She was especially wary, not just of the shadow, but of the people around her. She was short and small in stature, someone like her had to be careful in a place like this. She suddenly felt like everyone in the mall was out to get her.

Out of the corner of her eye, Dawn thought she saw a dark shadow. She turned to face it and saw that it had disappeared. She sent a text to Jon and then ran in the direction she thought it went.

It led her outside of the mall, into a more secluded area. She found herself in a corridor between the end of the mall and another building. Her skin pricked and the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She heard the sound of a footstep behind her.

"W-who's there?" Dawn said, clenching her fists and closing her eyes, too afraid to look behind her.

"You're cute… How about you come and hang out with me, huh?" A man's voice said.

Dawn turned around slowly. "Um… I'm good, thanks. I'm actually waiting for someone, so…"

"Oh, now that won't do. Come on, a pretty girl all by herself? Let me be your knight and take you around the city. You're not from here, are ya?" He said as he inched towards her.

Dawn took a step back. "N-no, get away from me!" She began to run.

The man started running after her, telling her to come back. Then suddenly, there was silence.

Dawn turned around to see a familiar figure leaning over the body of her pursuer.

"Don't worry, he's just knocked out." The figure said.

Dawn was confused, "Dark Heart, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be wherever the CareBears sent you?"

The boy with red hair smiled. "Please, my name is Drake now. I'd like it if you called me that, Dawn."

"Okay… Drake… Well, why are you here?"

Drake shrugged. "I couldn't find any signs of the shadow, so I decided I'd check on you, and lo and behold, I was here _just_ in the nick of time, wasn't I?"

Dawn smiled, "Yeah, you really saved me today!" Something was weird though. "Why didn't you go check on Christy first? That isn't like you."

"Oh Christy? I called her, she said she was fine and she didn't want me to see her. She told me to go see you guys instead. And anyway… I wanted to see you, Dawn."

Dawn crinkled her nose. "You… wanted to see… _me?_ "

"Yeah! We never get to talk. I know I locked you up with the Bears all those years ago, but that was the past. I've always liked you, Dawn." Drake took a step closer to Dawn, who took a step back in turn. He grabbed her hand. "We should leave this place, Christy and the CareBears can handle this thing on their own, they don't need us. Come with me, we can go somewhere fun together."

Dawn let out a nervous laugh. "Drake… I don't think that's a good idea. Me and Jon can't just leave Christy alone."

"Who said anything about Jon? He'll stay with Christy, too. He has a crush on her, doesn't he? I'll bet he'd like to be alone with her for once."

"Drake- no. We have to help the CareBears! I don't know what's going on with you right now, but I don't like it."

"Dawn, please. I'm begging you, come with me. Right now! It needs to be now."

"No way! I'm waiting for Jon to get here, he'll be here any second now."

"Dawn! Are you in here?" Jon shouted at the end of the corridor. Dawn turned around to look in the direction his voice was coming from.

"Jon! I'm down here!" She began to walk towards him.

She was so happy to have Jon around again. "Oh Jon! I nearly got attacked! But then Dark- I mean, Drake, saved me!"

"Drake? He was here?"

"Yeah! He's right behind me!" Dawn looked over her shoulder to see Drake, but he was gone. "Well, he was here a minute ago…"

"Why was he here? That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, he was acting pretty weird, totally not like himself at all." Dawn relayed all that Drake had said to her.

"Wow, he really said all that stuff? I can't believe it. Man, Christy's gonna be heartbroken…"

"We can't tell her, Jon."

"But-"

"No, Jon."

"If you say so, Dawn… Did you at least catch the shadow?"

"No, that guy who tried to attack me distracted me. And then Drake came… So I didn't see it again. But at least we saw it! So we can report back to the CareBears now, I think."

Jon nodded. "Yeah, we've had a long day, it's time to head back to Care-A-Lot."


	7. Chapter 7

Christy was on her second day of searching. She had been nearly the whole length of Santa Monica pier, but there was no sign of the shadow anywhere. She was hoping maybe her presence would lure it out, it had certainly worked on Dark Heart back in the day. She wished the twins were with her, Santa Monica looked like it'd be so much fun- but by yourself there isn't much to do. It was cold. Christy buried her hands and face in her jacket the best she could, but she wasn't exactly dressed for the weather. It wasn't supposed to be this cold in California!

Every time Christy saw a couple walk by her, she felt sad. _I wonder if Drake and I will ever be like that…_ She had had so many crushed on the guys at her school before this whole ordeal with Care-A-Lot, but now the only guy she could think about was Drake. And oh Drake… Drake was her kryptonite. From his blazing red hair to his deep blue eyes, to his masculine build… everything about Drake set Christy's heart aflutter. _Why didn't you come and meet me sooner…? You shouldn't have waited until the world was in trouble to see me again, Drake._

She went down to the pier where there was a small carnival and decided to take a ride on the ferris wheel to get a better vantage point. She walked up to it, when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

She half-expected it to be Drake, but it was a little girl. "Excuse me, can you help me? I can't find my parents…" She had the saddest look on her face, and Christy just couldn't let her wander around alone.

"Of course! What's your name?" Christy asked, kneeling down so that she was at eye-level with the child.

"I'm Laura." She seemed shy.

Christy smiled and grabbed the little girl's hand. "Where was the last place you saw them? I'll take you there."

The little girl said she remembered riding the carousel with her parents watching her from the outside, when all of a sudden she couldn't see them anymore as they went around. Christy furrowed her brow. _There's no way_ both _parents would just leave their daughter like that… Something isn't right._ But Christy still walked her to where the carousel was, and they called out for her parents. When that didn't help, Christy led the little girl over to the person running the carousel and asked if he knew anything. When that was a dead end, the little girl started sobbing.

"Aw, don't cry, Laura. We'll find them!"

"They left me! Mommy and Daddy don't love me anymore!"

"That's not true! I bet they thought they lost you, too! Maybe right now they're searching all over the place for you."

"No… I heard Mommy saying that she wanted another baby... She wants to replace me! They left me here so they could have another little girl!" Laura was on the ground wailing uncontrollably now. People were beginning to give Christy strange looks, so she had to think of something to calm her down quickly.

"Laura, how about you and I go get some ice cream? Then after that, we'll keep looking! Okay?"

Laura looked up at Christy with tears in her eyes, but her crying stopped. Unable to resist a delicious frozen treat, the little girl got to her feet and followed Christy to the ice cream stand. Christy bought her a triple scoop, because this felt like the kind of sadness only a _lot_ of ice cream could heal.

"Alright, now, Laura. I promise you, your parents are around here somewhere, worried sick about you. And you and I are going to find them!"

Laura was too busy eating her ice cream while crying to notice that Christy had actually said anything. Her phone buzzed.

It was a text from John. It read, "Hey Chris! Your parents called, you should really answer your phone! Anyway, I told them you were with me and Dawn on a spontaneous road trip for the break, and that seemed to calm them down a bit. Seriously, why didn't you tell them you were going to be gone so long?!"

Christy put her head in her hands. She couldn't believe she forgot to tell her parents she'd be going out. Normally, they're very cool when it comes to trips with her friends, and as long as she wasn't missing school, which thankfully it's now winter break, it didn't matter what she did. That is, as long as she told them what she was doing beforehand. She was totally going to get it later. She glanced down at her phone again and noticed the approximately 20 calls she'd missed from her mom. _Oh, God…_

But she couldn't worry about her own problems right now. She looked down at Laura, who somehow managed to finish all of her ice cream. She was covered in it, so Christy grabbed a few napkins and helped her clean up.

Laura glanced over to the carousel, and excitedly jumped up. "I know where they are!" She said, leaving Christy behind. Christy immediately ran after her, not wanting to leave the girl alone even if she did see her parents. She followed the girl into a darker area of the pier that was near the carousel but closer to the boardwalk, in between a couple buildings. _Why does it always have to be dark alleys?_

Christy found Laura stopped in the middle of the alleyway, just standing there, doing nothing. "Hey, Laura, why don't we go back out there where your parents can find us?"

Laura smiled. "I don't want them anymore. I want you!" The little girl's voice sounded wrong, almost distorted, but only just barely. Her smile looked almost menacing, and her eyes seemed to glow in the darkness. Christy started to back away from the little girl as she slowly walked towards her, hands extended out to grab her.

 _Scared of a kid, Christy? Wow._ But even though she knew it was stupid, she couldn't help but feel sheer terror. As the kid edged ever closer to her, Christy began to freeze up. Laura was looking more and more off by the moment, her features becoming warped as Christy felt her strength being sapped away. Right before Christy's eyes, Laura was turning in to the shadow of Christy's nightmares. It was huge and red. It had a terrifying presence about it, she could actually feel how evil it was.

"G-get away from me!" Christy screamed as she tried unsuccessfully to free her limbs from whatever spell she was under. The shadow let out a deep laugh.

"Somebody! Anybody! Heeeelllppp!" Christy shouted at the top of her lungs, hoping that someone would come to her rescue. The shadow grabbed her and began to squeeze her body, but then a blinding light appeared out of nowhere.

The shadow groaned as the light hit it. It released Christy and disappeared into the night. She coughed and tried to regain her breath.

"Oh Christy!" A familiar voice said.

Christy managed to look up and see who it was. It was Tender Heart and Noble Heart- the CareBears had heard her!

"How are you feeling?"

"I feel… like I just got run over by a train…" She replied, feebly. The Bears helped her up to her feet and into their cloud car.

Tender Heart said, "We'll get you your strength back as soon as we get back to Care-A-Lot, Christy."

Christy managed to reply, "So was that him? Did you kill him?"

Noble Heart shook his head. "If only. That was only a fragment of him, and all we did was weaken him for now. He'll be back."

Christy grimaced. "So… I wasn't any help at all!"

"That's not true, Christy. Because of you, we now know exactly who we're dealing with."

"Who? Who is it? _What_ is it?" Christy asked.

Noble Heart and Tender Heart exchanged looks. Then Noble Heart replied, "You need to rest. We'll tell you when you're feeling better."

Christy pouted, but she wasn't about to argue with the CareBears. Even though they looked all cute and cuddly and innocent, the Bears seemed to actually know what they were talking about. In the comfort of the car, Christy let her eyes close and she drifted off to sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

Christy woke up in a bed. It was probably the most comfortable bed she'd ever slept on. For a moment, she was confused, wondering where all the stuff in her bedroom went, and then she remembered. _Right. I'm still in Care-A-Lot…_ She stood up out of her bed, but then stumbled and fell back onto it. Her brain felt like it was pulsating, and her vision was black and fuzzy. She took a moment to regain her senses again and stood up, slowly and carefully this time. She took a few steps forward as she tried to reach the closet door, but her knees buckled and she fell to the ground.

She rubbed her head where it hit the ground. There was a knock on the door. "Come in!" Christy said.

Drake swung the door open and kneeled at her side. "I heard you crash, are you alright, Christy?"

"Yeah… Just fell." She replied. "Wait a second… Were you just standing outside my room?"

"Well… yeah…" Drake said with an awkward tone of voice. "You've been out for days."

"Wha- Days? How is that possible?"

"It's normal, considering. The thing you encountered sapped your energy for itself. You shouldn't even be out of your bed. Come on, I'll help you up." Drake grabbed her arms and lifted Christy to her feet.

"Where are Jon and Dawn?"

Drake helped Christy get back into her bed as he said, "They're in the Forest of Feelings with the Cousins."

"The What?" Christy replied, almost mockingly.

"The Forest of- It's where the CareBear Cousins live." Drake explained, but Christy's still had a confused, but amused, look on her face. He continued, "You know, the Cousins? You met Braveheart Lion, he's… a lion… not a bear? So he's a CareBear Cousin. Just like the other non-bears."

"And they have to live in a completely separate part of Care-A-Lot?"

"Well, yeah, they're different animals, they need different habitats."

Christy furrowed her brow. "So… isn't that a little, like, racist?"

Drake laughed. "What?"

"Well, the Bears and the Cousins are segregated from each other, seems kinda weird. Do the Cousins have a castle, too?"

"Well, no… They live in the trees and stuff."

"So… they don't even have houses?"

"Oh my gosh, Christy, I promise it isn't like that." Drake chuckled. "The Cousins chose to live in the Forest. They like it there, they didn't want to live in a castle like the Bears."

Christy smiled. "Uh huh, _sure_. Well, anyway, what are Jon and Dawn doing there?"

Drake smiled back at her. "They're just hanging out, I guess. They helped raised all these guys when they were cubs, so they're just catching up, waiting for you to wake up."

"And you've been…?"

"Just… waiting. I wanted to be here in case you needed someone."

Christy blushed. _This guy… I swear._

"You're too kind, Drake. You should go have fun with the twins!"

"I don't want to leave you here, alone, Christy."

Christy put her hand on his hand. "No, seriously, go. I'm sleepy again anyway!"

Drake agreed to leave, though he wasn't very ecstatic about it. He didn't know why she was always trying to push him away. But if it's what she wanted, of course he would do it.

He found Jon and Dawn playing tag with Swiftheart Rabbit and Playfulheart Monkey. "Hey guys! Mind if I join in?" Drake shouted.

Jon and Dawn exchanged looks. Jon looked at Drake accusingly, and Dawn looked away from him.

"You know, actually, me and Jon were just about to go check on Christy. You can still play though!" Dawn said.

Drake's expression dropped. "Oh… O-okay. She's awake now, so that'd be a good idea. I'm sure she'd be happy to see you guys."

Jon and Dawn walked back towards Care-A-Lot. As they walked past Drake, Dawn cringed a little bit. She thought Drake wouldn't notice, but he did.

Drake walked over to Swiftheart and Playfulheart. "What was that all about?"

The two Cousins shrugged. "I dunno, but we're still wanting to play tag, so, you're it!" Playfulheart said as he touched Drake's arm and ran away as fast as he could. Drake smiled and ran after him. He figured the twins were probably just worried about and that's why they were acting weird.

Jon and Dawn talked the whole way back about Drake.

"What are we gonna tell her?" Dawn asked.

John paused. "I'm… not really sure. I mean, should we _even_ tell her? She has a lot going on right now, maybe it isn't the best idea to worry her about Drake. And anyway, we don't even know if she'll actually care."

Dawn scoffed. " _Of course_ she'll care! This is Dark Heart we're talking about! The guy who she rescued as a kid, the guy who wanted to help her become better-"

"You mean, the guy who only wanted her to be camp champ so he could use her to further his evil plots?"

"Yes, but it's more than that. He believed in her abilities. Jon, try to think like a girl for a minute here, kay? Anyway, he means a lot to her, not to mention that now he's a _total_ dream boat."

Jon rolled his eyes. "Seriously? _Him?_ "

Dawn nodded furiously. "His body is perfect, his hair is fantastic, his voice is mesmerizing, and those deep blue eyes!" Dawn pretended to swoon. "Dream boat."

"Uh huh." Jon replied sarcastically. "Alright, so, maybe she _will_ care. But is it really our place to tell her that he hit on you?"

"Yes, absolutely. Look, Jon, I already made up my mind. So just tell me how we're going to do this."

"I dunno, just say it? Why should we beat around the bush?"

Dawn thought on that for a second. "You _really_ don't get girls, do you?"

Jon's face turned red. "O-of course I do! _I_ have a girlfriend…"

Dawn laughed at him. Suddenly Jon remembered that, yes, he _did_ have a girlfriend, and that he had completely forgotten to call her while he had been gone for so long. Jon decided it'd be best if he went to talk to her and left Dawn to deal with Christy, and Dawn completely agreed with him.

Dawn knocked on the door. "Chris? You awake?"

"Yes! Come in!"

Dawn let herself in and pulled the vanity chair over to Christy's bedside. "How are you feeling, Christy?"

"Oh… just fine, I guess. I fell over trying to walk around this morning."

"That's terrible! Are you hurt?"

"Oh yeah, it's okay! Drake was there to help me up and back into the bed." Christy smiled.

Dawn frowned. "Listen, Christy, about that… There's something I need to tell you. It's about Drake."

Christy motioned for Dawn to continue, but Christy was almost too nervous to hear the answer.

"Well, you see… While I was out looking for the shadow, a man tried to attack me. Then suddenly, Drake appeared and saved me. And then, he… Well, he flirted with me."

Christy put her hand over her mouth. "What?!"

"Yes, and… He said that he always thought I was really cute, and he pinned me against the wall and begged me to run away with him."

Christy fell silent in disbelief.

"I know you probably don't believe me, Chris, but I wouldn't lie to you."

Christy could feel tears welling in her eyes. "So… what did you tell him?"

"I said 'no', of course! I'd never do that to you, Christy. Plus, you _know_ I have my eyes on that guy from history class. He kept begging me, and then when Jon showed up to meet me, Drake just left. I didn't see him again until we were all in Care-A-Lot."

"I know you'd never lie, but… This is insane! Drake is always so nice to me, and he blushes whenever I get near him! I just figured that I'd be the one he would choose."

Dawn sighed. "I know, Christy. I did, too. I'm sorry."

"And to think that he would just abandon us and the CareBears when we need him! I mean, that's so selfish! He's completely different than what I thought he was."

"So… you're not sad about it?"

"I'm a little sad. But mostly, I'm just ticked. That jerk thinks he can just leave without fixing things? Jeez. Who does he think he is, anyway?"

Christy went into a rant about Drake, about anything that she could think of that was bad about him. Dawn sat and listened, and let her talk as long as she needed to.


	9. Chapter 9

The next day, Christy was still bedridden, to her dismay. And even worse, that jerk Drake was still waiting outside her door like a guard dog. Christy was unbelievably sick of lying in bed doing nothing, especially since there was no cable TV in the cloud kingdom. She only had her phone to entertain her, which was steadily running out of batteries and there was only one charging port in Care-A-Lot, and it wasn't in her room. Dawn and Jon would come inside every now and then but they were too busy discussing things with the CareBears. They wouldn't tell her anything about what the CareBears knew, as per their orders, which frustrated her even more.

Finally, after hours of being in one spot, Christy decided that she had to try to stand again. Without making a sound, she threw off the covers of the bed and planted her feet on the ground. She shifted her weight to her feet and stood up. At first, she was feeling really good about it, and she started to walk towards the wardrobe so she could change into new clothes. Just as she reached for the handle of the door, she began to feel light headed and her vision blackened. Christy immediately fell, making a loud crash as she also threw open the wardrobe door and it slammed into the adjacent wall. _Crap. Did Drake hear that…?_

Drake busted into the room and went to Christy's side. "What were you thinking, trying to move around like that when you're still weak?"

Christy couldn't look him in the eye. Drake reached for her hands to help her up, but Christy pulled away. "I don't need _your_ help. I can get up myself, Drake."

Drake backed away and let her do it on her own, reluctantly. "I'll be here if you need something to grab onto."

"No thanks, I've got this table to lean against."

Drake pouted. He couldn't understand why Christy was acting so different all of a sudden. He watched as Christy managed to get to her feet and back into her bed on her own. _Maybe she just_ really _wanted to do it by herself…_

Christy looked at him, with an almost threatening look on her face, but she didn't say a word.

"Do you… want me to leave?" Drake asked, confused.

Christy rolled her eyes. " _Yes!_ I want to be _alone_ , Drake."

"O-oh. Okay. Yeah, I'll see you later then."

"And stop waiting outside my door all the time! I can't relax knowing you're just _out there_."

Drake turned around and left. Tears were welling in his eyes. "Come on, Drake, crying? Really? Be a man. She just wants to be alone." He said quietly to himself as he walked through the castle. "She didn't have to be so mean about it though…"

He wished that he could talk to Christy candidly. He had so many things to say, and so many concerns. The thing that he saw while he was out looking, he knew exactly who it was, but he didn't know what it meant. He hadn't seen it in so many years, and he thought it was something that was long forgotten to the past. He never dreamed that his shadow would come back with its own sentience. Back then, when he was Dark Heart, the shadow did whatever he wanted it to do, and without him, it had no power. So what exactly does it mean, now that it's returned with its own evil plot? He didn't want to think about it, but how could he avoid the inevitable truth of the situation? And he couldn't avoid talking to Tenderheart and Braveheart much longer. Drake knows that they know, and eventually they will confront him whether he is ready or not.

"Maybe I should just talk to them about it now… I mean, what's the point in putting it off? I can't hide it from Christy forever, and it seems like she doesn't even like me, anyway." Drake tried to explain to himself.

"Drake. You know we need to discuss what's going on." A nearby voice said.

It was Grumpybear. Drake smiled, of all the Bears, Drake felt like he could talk to Grumpybear the easiest. "Hey Grump… So, you know about it, too, huh?"

Grumpybear walked closer to him. "Yes, I know. Everyone else was just going to wait until you were ready to talk about it, but not me. Drake, it's time to come clean. I'm getting annoyed with you hiding away in Christy's room. This isn't going to go away."

Drake looked at the ground. "I-I know that. It's just that… I don't want to… disappoint everyone, you know?"

"I know. But we need to know what's going on. Did it talk to you?"

"No, it didn't say anything to me. It just looked at me and laughed, then flew away. I don't know what it means, Grump."

Grumpybear sighed. "I think you _do_ know what it means."

Drake was quiet for a minute. "Yeah… I do. It wants to use me. My image, my body. It wants me to be evil again. I can tell just by the fact that it showed itself so easily to me. And lately…"

"Your powers are coming back." Grumpybear finished Drake's sentence for him.

"How could you tell? I thought I was hiding it pretty well."

"I have a knack for these things. Nobody believes me, but I do. When the caring meter dropped, I noticed you'd changed. You used to be carefree, and now you're riddled with doubt."

Drake nodded. "When they came back, I didn't know what to do. Suddenly, I was changing into all these animals again, and I had no control over it. I didn't leave my room for a while because I was trying to remember how to keep it in check. They're getting stronger, though. When I was near it, I could feel the humming of my full power almost come back. It knows it, too. If I'm not with my shadow, it can never be at full power, just like I can't."

Grumpybear folded his arms. "So, _why_ did they return? And why is the shadow back?"

"I honestly don't know that. The shadow should have dissipated when I lost my powers and became a regular mortal. Maybe it's been waiting all this time, sucking negative energy from the world and gaining its own strength. I'm not sure. It shouldn't be possible, but then again, it was the first time that an evil immortal like me ever became good. No one really knows _what_ is possible."

Grumpybear sighed again. "Well, at least you're not in denial anymore. You should go see Tenderheart, and tell him everything. I don't wanna hear about you keeping secrets anymore, got it?"

Drake nodded, and gave a reluctant Grumpybear a hug before walking to the meeting room where he knew the two leaders of the Bears and the Cousins would be waiting. He didn't want any of what he just said to be true, but he knew that there was a possibility he could go evil again. And this time, it'd be worse than the last. He couldn't let that happen. He didn't want to hurt Christy ever again.


	10. Chapter 10

Christy yawned and stretched her legs and arms. She looked over at her cellphone and noticed the date. It had already been a week since she was attacked, since she became bedridden. She rolled her eyes. _I'm never getting out of here._ Dawn walked in the room.

"Hey Chris, guess what?"

"Did Drake ask you out?"

Dawn smiled nervously. "Um… no… Actually, the CareBears told me that you should be able to walk around today! Wanna give it a try?"

Christy sat up excitedly. "Wha- you really mean it? Heck yeah get me _out_ of here!"

Christy went to the edge of the bed and, using Dawn as support, managed to get to her feet and walk across the room to her wardrobe, this time without falling over or feeling faint. Dawn helped Christy change out of her old clothes and into something new. Finally Christy was able to leave the room she'd been trapped in for so long. The hallways of the castle never looked so good.

"Oh Dawn! You have _no_ idea how good this feels. Seriously, I was so _sick_ of that room."

"I bet! I can't believe that you were out for so long. That thing must have really done a number on you. And the Bears won't even tell us why, they've been super secretive about the whole thing. It's totally getting on my nerves! But they said that now that you've got your strength back, it's time!"

"Ugh, it's about time! Those Bears with their secrets. And I thought friends weren't _supposed_ to have secrets!"

Dawn laughed. "I know, right?"

"So… Drake?"

"I haven't seen him since yesterday morning. Neither has Jon. Maybe he took off because he's feeling guilty about what he did!"

"Maybe…" Christy's voice trailed off. She was so mad at Drake, but she couldn't help but feel sad. Why did Drake choose Dawn over her? She and Drake… well, she thought they had something special between them, something deeper than just friendship. But she felt stupid now for making that assumption.

Christy stumbled and nearly fell, but Dawn caught her. "You okay, Chris? We can walk slower if you want."

"No, I'm fine. Let's just get to the meeting room as soon as possible."

When they arrived, they found all of the meeting seats full with every CareBear and Cousin. Jon was seated at the end at a new table they'd made just for the humans present. There were three empty seats. Christy and Dawn sat down next to Jon.

"Where's Drake?" Christy asked. Not that she cared, she just wanted to know.

TenderHeart replied softly but firmly, "All in good time, Christy. First, there is something you must know. It has come to our attention that the thing that attacked you was no mere shade, it has a name. A name you will remember."

"Me? But I don't know any-"

"It was Dark Heart. Or rather, his shadow."

Christy was confused, hurt. "What? No- that's… That's not possible. Drake would never do something to hurt me like that. You've got it wrong."

"It wasn't Drake, it was his shadow. Different and the same all at once. We don't know how or why it exists, but we know that it is not a good sign."

GrumpyBear spoke up. "And that's why Drake isn't here right now. We had to lock him away. He admitted that his powers have returned, and that the shadow has spoken to him in thought, asking to join Drake once again. Drake is dangerous. He has hidden this from us for a long time."

Christy and the twins were silent. Why would Drake keep this a secret? He knows better than anyone that there's strength in numbers and in friendship.

"I have to see Drake." Christy said.

BraveHeart Lion replied, "No, Christy, you can't. Drake needs to be alone right now. He needs to focus on staying good. It's his fault that the caring meter dropped. He is the one who needs to fix this. In fact, maybe you three should just go home, you'll only distract him. As long as Drake resists the shadow, it has no real power except to manipulate young minds, and we can handle that."

The three of them looked at each other. Jon agreed with the Bears. "I think it's time we went home, we've been gone for too long. We have responsibilities, we can't stay here forever."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah… plus we have that big test coming up, and I need to study… And if I don't get back soon that guy from class will totally move on from me!'

Christy shook her head. "I… I can't leave yet. You two can go home. Tell my parents I'm sleeping over at your house or something."

"Christy, after what he did? You really want to stay here for him?" Jon asked.

Christy looked at the ground. She didn't know why she wanted to stay. Even though Drake hurt her, she couldn't help but feel for him still. Their destinies seemed to be intertwined, and for whatever reason, she couldn't give up on him yet. "Maybe it was just a mistake. We don't know why Drake did what he did. There could have been a reason, and I need to know."

"I don't think so, Christy. He just wanted an out, and he wanted me. If you ask him, you won't get the answer you're hoping for. You should just come home. It was fun to see everyone again, but they don't need us like we thought they did."

Christy was silent for a while, the room was tense. Finally, as TenderHeart was about to adjourn the meeting, Christy said, "No. I'm sorry, I can't leave. I won't leave. There's still something I need to do, and I don't care what you say, Drake needs me."

TenderHeart somewhat begrudgingly complied. "Alright, Christy, if that's how you feel, then you can stay. Jon and Dawn, I think you should return to your homes. When you're ready, I will take you."

Jon and Dawn looked at each other. Neither of them wanted to leave Christy alone, especially now when they know that Drake could be dangerous, but they had no choice.

The meeting was closed, and every one left. Jon, Dawn, and Christy were left alone to say goodbye.

Jon was concerned. "Look, Christy, if it was me or Dawn, you would want us to leave. You're going to stay behind in this place over a hang-up with some guy? He hurt you, you need to let him go. I don't want to see you get hurt even worse."

"Jon… I just can't. You don't understand, you _can't_ understand the way I feel for him. We're… connected. He needs me. I know it. I'll come back, I will. You just need to trust me. I can help him out of this."

Jon gave Christy a tight hug. "Then you be careful. And if _anything_ happens, even if he just makes you sad again, I want you to call me. I'll beat him up."

Christy smiled. "Of course, Jon. And Dawn…" She said while giving her friend a hug. "Take care of this goof. I'll tell you if Drake says anything about what he said to you."

"You better, I love a good drama." Dawn replied.

After that, the twins left, and Christy was left alone in the cloud kingdom, the only fully human person in Care-A-Lot. She walked around the castle until she found GrumpyBear. "Take me to him."

GrumpyBear agreed to take her to see Drake, but in his own annoyed manner of doing things. Drake was kept in a cell that the Bears had made just for him in the basement of the castle. "I'll leave you two alone." He said, going back upstairs to do his work.

Drake looked up at Christy. "I didn't think you'd come to see me." His eyes were full of delight.

Christy still had a hard time looking at him. "I didn't either, but here I am."

"So…" Drake said. "You know, about my shadow?"

"Yes. I know. But I don't think you'll give into it. You were evil once, but you're good now. Well, as good as you can be, I guess."

"Yeah… but I'm scared, Christy. If I go back, I'm worried I'll really be terrible. Worse than before, now that I'm older. I'm more powerful now, I can feel it. And if the shadow joins with me… I fear the things I could do."

Christy shook her head. "You won't, Drake. I'll be here for you. All I need to know is the answer to one question."

Drake looked up with a confused expression on his face. "What's that?"

Christy looked away. "Why did you say those things to Dawn?"

Drake furrowed his brows. "What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh my God, don't act like you don't know, Drake."

"No, seriously, what do you mean? I haven't said anything to Dawn."

"Drake! Are you kidding me? I know all of it, I know everything about what you said, and about what you planned to do. You were selfish, and mean, and you scared her. And you really hurt me, too. Don't you feel any guilt at all for that?"

"Well, no, I don't! Because-" But before Drake could finish, Christy stood up in a huff.

"Really, Drake? I thought you were better than this."

"Wait, Christy-"

"No, you know what? I hate you! I don't ever want to see you again. After what you did? And you won't even confess to it? And you don't even feel a shred of guilt over it? You can just forget it. I'm out of here, have fun, you jerk." Christy said angrily as she stormed out of the room.

Drake was so confused, he had no idea what just happened. "Girls…" He muttered to himself. "What does she mean? I haven't talked to Dawn nearly at all since we got back from the recon."

A dark voice whispered into Drake's mind. "See? Everyone hates you, Drake. Even those little CareBears that you love so much, even that girl who stole you away from me when you were still immortal."

"Go away… I'm not going to talk to you, shadow."

"Come on, old friend… You know you can't resist me. I _am_ you. We are one."

"No, not anymore! You're evil, and I left that life behind a long time ago."

"You were evil a lot longer than you have been good. I can see what's in your heart. Since you have become human, you have felt so much pain. And now, after what the girl said to you, you're in agony. The one you love… She hates you now. I can feel how that makes you feel."

Drake shook his head, attempting to hide the tears welling in his eyes. "You don't know how it feels. You can't feel."

"I do know. And I also know that there is only one way for you to stop this pain."

"No, I won't do it. You can't have me, shadow. Not this time. I don't care what she says to me, I will never hurt her again."

The shadow laughed. "I _will_ have you. Soon. I have you all to myself now."


	11. Chapter 11

In a huff, Christy packed up her things and demanded that TenderHeart take her back to Earth. TenderHeart looked concerned, but agreed since it was what they recommended to her from the very beginning. For some reason, TenderHeart felt like she really should stay, but he couldn't force her to do something she didn't want to do. Christy texted Dawn and let her know that she'd be going home early and before long, she was back at home.

Her parents didn't seem particularly pleased.

"You _really_ should have told us you'd be leaving, Christy. That was extremely irresponsible of you."

"I know, Mom…"

"No, Christy, you _don't_ know. Seriously, we're so disappointed in you. How are we supposed to trust you after this? Now luckily, you were with Dawn and Jon, who we know are very responsible and mature. Jon even called to tell us where you were! Such a nice boy. Why can't you be more like him?" Her mother sighed, exasperated from the anxiety her daughter had caused her.

"I'm sorry, Mom, honest! I didn't know I was going to be leaving, it just… sort of, happened. Anyway, I swear it won't happen again." Christy really meant that, too. She never wanted to see Drake or Care-A-Lot every again, not after the way that jerk treated her.

Christy's mother looked sternly into Christy's eyes, but then her expression softened into a smile. "I'm just happy you're home now."

Her mother pulled Christy into a warm embrace, followed by a hug from her father. Christy was surprised that they had decided not to even punish her. They told her to thank Jon and Dawn for stopping them from grounding her. Of course, the homework that she'd missed from school would be punishment enough. And that test coming up! Christy groaned. She had school the next day, she couldn't possibly put off the work any longer.

* * *

At the same time, Drake was still in his cell, pining for Christy and desperately wondering what she was doing at that moment. Was she still in Care-A-Lot? Or did she go home? He had no idea. He wished that she would have stayed with him. All these years he'd waited to see her again, and now he probably lost his chance to ever be with her. He felt like the biggest idiot in the world.

"You _are_ the biggest in the world," the shadow mocked.

Drake sighed. "Oh God, shut up. Please."

"Still so polite. It's like these Bears have got you trained like some stray dog. You're so pathetic."

"It's called _manners_. Don't tell me your parents never taught you that stuff? Oh- wait- you don't have parents, 'cause you're not actually a real person. So sad."

"Yeah, don't feel bad for me, _Dark Heart_. I don't have emotional ties to this world. I have achieved peace that you can never know because you are so weak. You're just gonna let this girl make you feel like this? You're gonna let those _Bears_ keep you imprisoned here? Grow a pair, kid."

"Alright, there's no need for that. Look, just get out of here, I'm never gonna give in to you. Go make some kids into bullies and leave me alone, will ya? I don't want a piece of you world domination plan, or whatever it is that you have goin' on."

The shadow cackled. "You never used to be this funny. I kinda like the new you."

"Yeah, well, you're the only one."

A few moments of silence passed. Drake prayed that this would last for some time.

"Oh come, now, Drake. _I_ like you." The shadow said, using Christy's image and voice.

Drake blushed. "I know that's you, shadow, what do you take me for? An idiot?"

"Aw, Drake… I don't think you're an idiot." The fake Christy caressed Drake's face with her hands.

"Quit it, shadow. This is weird," Drake said as he brushed the shadow's hands away. It was really convincing though, the act that the shadow was doing.

The fake Christy laughed. "Look at you, blushing… You're _so_ cute." It reached for his hands.

Drake scooted as far away from the shadow as he could. "Dude, I know you're not really a human, but don't you think this is a little gay?"

The fake Christy pouted and folded her arms. "Drake! It's _really_ me! The CareBears let me in. I really wanted to see you again. I didn't want to just leave the things the way we did… I'm here for you. Really. Don't you trust me? How could you even think that I'm that mean shadow?"

Drake was confused. "You- You came _back_? For _me_? But I-"

"Let's not talk about that right now, Drake, okay?"

Drake sighed. "Yeah… okay. You're right. You're here now, that's all that matters. Thank you, Christy."

The fake Christy smiled and put her arm around his shoulder.

The shadow wouldn't let up on its act. It stayed in Christy's form for hours upon hours. Drake started talking to her about life, about anything really, to keep himself sane. Drake couldn't actually believe that Christy came back to be with him, but maybe she'd forgiven him, or at least, she recognized that right now Drake really needed her. Whatever the case, he was happy to have her around. For once, everything felt almost right, and while there was something nagging at him in the back of his mind not trust the situation, he couldn't help but feel delight. As long as he had her, he knew that he could never give in to temptation.

Still, there was something eating away at him, and after a few hours, he couldn't let it go unsaid anymore.

"Look, Christy… I don't know what I did to make you mad at me, but I am really sorry." Drake said.

The fake Christy was silent.

"Are you… still mad at me?"

"What? You think I'd forgive you that easily? What do you think this is, Drake?"

"Well, I-"

The fake Christy stood up and folded her arms. "Drake- God you're such an idiot. _Of course_ I'm still mad. I hate you. And you still won't even admit to what you did! Quit denying it! I only came back to see if you'd admit your guilt and apologize for what you did."

"But I didn't do anything!"

"Yes you did!" The fake Christy slapped him. Drake was at a loss for words.

"C-Chris-" He whimpered.

"Shut up. Look, Drake, I thought I could give you another chance, but this is it. I can't do it anymore. You can go be evil again for all I care. In fact, do it! And maybe this time, the CareBears will actually make you disappear forever like all those other bad guys they told me about!"

"Is… Is that what you want?"

"Yes! That's _exactly_ what I want!" The fake Christy yelled as she opened the cell door and stormed away.

Drake laid down on the ground, unable to move or think or speak. He felt numb. It was like every single emotion you could possibly feel was going on at once inside his mind. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. The emotional pain was tangible, he felt his stomach tie into knots. He couldn't tell if it was sadness or anger. He let out a loud shout of frustration as he put his hands to his head.

The shadow appeared again, as its normal form. "Dude… That was brutal."

Drake said nothing. He couldn't reply.

"She seemed so nice, like she wanted to make up. And then she went and crushed your heart, all over again! Christy is one cruel girl."

Again, Drake had nothing to say.

"Drake… You know it's time. It's what she wants, anyway, don't you think you should respect that?"

Drake sighed. Christy _did_ say specifically that he should become Dark Heart again and let the CareBears stare him into oblivion. If he let the shadow join with him, but only for the purpose of letting the Bears take both of them out, it'd be okay. Right? He wasn't sure. Suddenly so much was going through his mind, it was impossible to keep track. Maybe it'd be better this way. Everyone would be happier if he just disappeared. Christy and the twins could finally forget about Care-A-Lot and live normal lives unaffected by their mystical world. The Bears wouldn't have to worry about him anymore, they could get on with their responsibilities, too. And the shadow would never be able to wreak havoc again. Was this actually the right decision?

Drake looked over at the shadow, who was faking a sad expression. "Shadow…"

* * *

Christy woke up with a start. She wasn't used to the alarm waking her up so early in the morning. She groaned and turned it off, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "School…" She muttered as she managed to stand up out her bed and get ready. She just threw on some clothes, she had no desire to worry about the way she looked that day. She still felt like a train wreck from all that had happened.

She met Dawn and Jon at school. They were happy to see her, but they looked a little sad, too.

"So… Drake…" Dawn began.

Christy shook her head. "Let's not. I can't talk about him anymore."

"Right, okay. Well, let's get to class then! I'm really psyched to see that cute guy from history again!" Dawn said as she took Christy by the hand and led her into class. Jon followed closely behind.

It didn't feel right to be in class anymore. So much had changed in the last two weeks. Her life had been turned completely upside down, and Christy had a hard time accepting that this mundane life was really her reality now. Her heart was heavy. She longed for the simplicity of her life before all this happened. She didn't want to admit it, but she also longed for Drake. She was mad at him still, but she couldn't help but miss the Drake she thought she knew. When she thought of him as only an imaginary friend, life was so much easier. But now she knew that he really existed, and for so long she considered him as the perfect guy. Now her perspective of him had changed, which only made her heart sting even more. _Why couldn't you just be as perfect as I thought you were?..._

The day was long. Hours passed by more slowly than they ever had before. Christy couldn't stay focused, not even on physics. Dawn and Jon seemed completely fine. She even saw Dawn flirting pretty heavily with the guy she liked at lunch.

"So… Sam, I always catch you checkin' me out, you ever gonna do something about that?" Dawn said. She wasn't normally the blunt type, but for whatever reason she decided she wasn't going to wait for this guy anymore.

Sam's face turned red, and an awkward, nervous laugh escaped from his mouth. "What?"

"You heard me! Come on, you, me… a date… How 'bout it, cutie?"

 _Poor Sam_. Christy chuckled to herself. There's no way he could say no that request.

"Y-yeah!" He said, enthusiastically, but also somewhat in a confused tone.

Dawn smiled and rubbed his hand. "Cool, pick me up at 6pm on Friday. We'll go bowling. Got it?"

Sam smiled and nodded, and Dawn gave him a peck on the cheek. She walked back to Christy and Jon's table.

"Wow- that was pretty smooth, Dawn!"

Dawn laughed. "I was just sick of waiting around for him. Seeing you and- well, after all that happened, I decided that waiting around for some guy to ask me out was pretty silly. After all, I'm cute, who'd say no to me?"

Jon grinned. "I can think of a few reasons why you're wrong."

"Well, who asked you?"

Christy laughed. "I'm glad romance worked out for some of us! You two would be totally cute together. It's nice to see you finally being bold about something!"

Dawn smiled slyly. "Who knows? I might even kiss him on the first date! How's that for bold?"

"Oh come on, Dawn, you act like you don't already do that!" Christy teased.

Jon looked over at his sister in disgust. "You really do that?"

Dawn looked at Jon and laughed. "No- of course not!" She looked at Christy when Jon wasn't looking and motioned an "I totally do that" gesture. Christy and Dawn stifled their giggles.

Everything was normal again, for the most part. After that, Christy began to move on from the events of the past week. They were just that, in the past, and they weren't their problem anymore. She was thankful that they finally got some closure on what really happened in their childhood, at least, and now they could all move on and live normal lives knowing that they weren't actually crazy.

They had no clue about the events transpiring in Care-A-Lot.

* * *

Okay, so, I just realized that I've been spelling John's name as "Jon" for like, 9 chapters, which is silly because that's definitely _not_ how you spell his name, haha. So, from now on, I'll be spelling it the normal way, but I won't fix the spelling in previous chapters because editing chapters on this site is kind of a pain. xD


	12. Chapter 12

Every day was much like the one before. Christy was beginning to realize just how monotonous life really is. For a moment, things were exciting, experiences were new, and everything about life brought a joy that couldn't easily be described. The CareBears' constant delight and harmony somehow shed onto Christy while she was with them, and their influence gave Christy a newfound appreciation for everything that she had. Now that those adventures were over, and now that Drake was out of her life, everything seemed so bleak in comparison. There was no excitement. She wasn't depressed about it, but certainly she saw things in a new, less-colorful light. Seeing Dawn giddy about this new guy did bring some happiness, though, and John was finally reunited with his girlfriend, which he was very excited about. Christy could at least be happy for them, even if right now her life after Care-A-Lot wasn't off to a great start.

"…Christy…" A voice said. Christy's mind was foggy, she was deep in though.

Dawn turned her head to face John. "She isn't responding. Do something!"

John cracked a smug, half-grin. He walked around to face Christy's back and stuck his fingers into her sides. Christy jolted and turned around to smack John in the shoulder. "Dude! What the heck?" She rubbed her sides. "That really hurt, ya know!"

John laughed. "Sorry, not sorry! You're a total space case today, Chris."

"I was having a really nice daydream!" Christy replied.

"Well, anyway, Chris, I was just going to give you some really great news! Me and John were gonna double date to go bowling tonight, _but_ we found the _perfect_ guy for you while we were shopping at the mall the other day! Seriously, you're gonna love him. We already told him you'd say yes, and we got your parents to let you go, so you pretty much have to come!"

Christy was a little bit dumbfounded. "Well… uh, I guess if I really can't say no…"

"Great!" Dawn squeaked. "He'll pick you up at your house at 6! Don't be late!"

Christy nodded and promised she would be on time, as if she'd have any reason to be late. She didn't spend hours doing her makeup like Dawn does, and certainly doesn't do the same for her hair like John. She watched as Dawn and John drove off in their shared car. She wasn't particularly excited by the idea of a blind date, but Christy saw it as an opportunity to finally get over all of this Drake Hartley stuff. And who knows? Maybe the guy really _will_ be the perfect guy. Still, some advance notice would have been nice. This date totally killed Christy's plans of doing absolutely nothing tonight, which was really important to her.

Christy's mom gave Christy a sly look when she got home. "What's going on…?" Christy asked.

"You're going on a date! Oh, I thought this day would never come… Let me choose what you're going to wear! And you _have_ to wear makeup, I'll do it for you if you want!"

" _Mom!_ " Christy groaned, embarrassed by her mother's excitement. In truth, this was actually Christy's first real date. When you sit next to a beautiful, popular, outgoing girl like Dawn all the time, you tend not to stand out very much. Christy had only ever been asked to go to dances a few times, and two of those times were by John, who was too nervous to ask any other girl. And Christy was far too shy to ever ask a guy herself, and she wasn't particularly good at flirting. Or maybe it was because all along her standards were skewed by her memory of Drake. In any case, this blind date she was being set up on was going to be her first, and her family could not have been more hyped. Despite Christy's protests, her mother chose a very girly outfit: a skirt, over-the-knee stockings, and a cute feminine blouse, with a light jacket to go with it.

"Where did you even get this stuff, I don't own anything like it!"

Christy's mom sighed. "I've had it for a while, in hopes that this day might come… Isn't it just perfect? He's going to think you're the cutest girl in the whole world. Trust me."

"Whatever you say…" Christy rolled her eyes. Deep in her heart, Christy felt happy to have a mother who loved her so much that she'd be this excited about a date.

"Now for your makeup!" Her mother said. Christy did her best to put a stop to the makeup, but in the end they settled on just foundation, mascara, and some conservative eyeliner.

"Happy?" Christy said, quickly becoming more and more annoyed by the minute.

"Oh, Christy- you look so beautiful! I have _got_ to get a picture. You just stand there." Her mother said as she took out her phone and took an infinite number of pictures. The doorbell rang soon after.

Christy got to the door, but couldn't open it. She gulped, and took a few deep breaths. She hadn't realized how nervous she was until this moment. Her hand reached for the door handle, but it was like there was a force field keeping her from opening it. Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all. Maybe she should just pretend like she wasn't home. She turned back to her mom and gave her a pleading look. Her mom gave Christy an encouraging smile and hand gesture. With shaky hands, Christy managed to open the door.

"Christy?" The guy said as the door opened. "Wow, you look incredible! Dawn said you were cute, but… man, you're really something. I'm Matt, by the way."

Christy blushed. "Well, thanks!" She hadn't gotten a good look of him yet. He had brown hair just like hers, and deep brown eyes. He was tall, about the same height as John, at least half a foot taller than her. He was actually pretty cute! _Good pick, Dawn_.

He held out his arm in gesture for her to take it and Christy accepted the invitation. She spied her mom sneaking pictures of them as they walked out to his car. It was awkward at first, but on the way to the bowling alley Christy and her date did manage to find some things to talk about, like school, hobbies, that sort of thing. Based on his hobbies, Christy was really liking this guy. Dawn was right, they were practically a perfect match. She hoped he'd continue to impress her throughout the night.

When they finally got to the bowling alley, John and Dawn were already there. John had his arm around the waist of his surprisingly gorgeous girlfriend, Sierra, and Dawn was already holding hands with her date, Sam. Christy had never actually met Sierra before. She knew that John and Sierra had been in the same drama class, but Christy chose to take art instead, so they never got a chance to meet. Sierra was blonde and blue-eyed just like the twins, with long, wavy hair that seemed to perfectly complement her face and body. In class, Sam normally wore very casual, baggy clothes, just like all the guys in their school did, but Christy was pleasantly surprised that he had cleaned up his appearance a bit for the occasion. His blond hair looked like it had just been styled at a hair salon, and his green eyes were intense, but soft. He was shorter than Matt, but not by much. They looked cute together.

They waved Christy over. "We're just getting everything set up!" John said.

There was already nachos, pizza, and soda on their table. Christy's stomach grumbled. Her date looked at her and smiled. "Someone's hungry, huh?"

Christy blushed and nodded. "Haven't eaten since lunch!"

Matt laughed. "Man, you must be about to starve!" He told her to go ahead and dig in. Christy felt weird about being the first one to eat, but she wouldn't pass up pizza and nachos to make a guy think she wasn't a pig. She piled her plate up with as much as she wanted.

"You have to eat, too! I'm gonna feel like a weirdo being the only one eating." Christy said as she made her date a plate, too. He smiled and thanked her for it, and though he actually wasn't all that hungry, he did his best to eat everything that Christy gave him.

When John finished setting up the game, everyone began taking turns rolling the bowling balls. Dawn, John, and Christy took bowling _very_ seriously. In fact, they were regulars at the alley, and went nearly every weekend. They began racking up strikes one after the other. Their dates were a little bit intimidated, but much to Dawn's delight, Sam was pretty good, too. After he saw how serious everyone else was, Sam stretched out his shoulders and rolled a turkey. Dawn was practically screaming after that and she gave him a victory kiss. Sam blushed and feigned modesty, shrugging it off to luck, which only made Dawn gush even more over him. Christy couldn't help but laugh at the site. Dawn was so happy. John's girlfriend wasn't faring as well, but that was okay, since John actually loved to teach her. He was always tutoring her in school, and he was giving her bowling lessons here, too. It was a little gross to watch them flirting while he showed her how to swing the ball, though. Christy and Dawn had to keep telling them to hurry it up.

Matt was in the middle of the twins and Sierra, in terms of skill. He wasn't getting strikes but he could reliably score spares almost every turn. Christy was happy enough that he was at least okay at bowling, though she wished he was a little better.

For the first time in a long time, the time passed in what seemed like only a few moments, and Christy was at her doorstep saying goodbye to Matt. She gave him her number, and he promised to call and make plans for another date soon. He leaned in, and Christy was scared that he was going in for a kiss, but Matt just hugged her. She thanked him for the great night, and he was on his way.

Christy was on cloud 9. This had probably been the most amazing night of her life, and she was still feeling butterflies in her stomach. Matt was so handsome and funny, she just couldn't get over him. Drake Hartley was now barely a memory in her mind. Everything suddenly seemed so much brighter and she was excited to see what would come next for her. She was hoping that Matt would call her and set up another date soon, she really wanted to see him again, and maybe even become exclusive.

After telling her parents all about the date, she went up to her room and flopped onto her bed, exhausted but in the best way. She closed her eyes and pictured herself with Matt.

"So, you replaced me, already?" A familiar voice asked.

Christy bolted out of her bed. "Who's there?"

A figure appeared from a dark corner in her room. "It's me, Christy. Your old friend."

Christy shook her head. "You're supposed to be in Care-A-Lot- why are you here? You know it's not safe for you to be out right now."

"I just wanted to see you, see what you were up to. I really missed you. But now I realize that you certainly weren't missing me."

"What- did you just expect me to never move on with my life? And anyway, this date wasn't even my idea. Blame Dawn. Who, by the way, is very much infatuated with another guy, not you." Christy folded her arms. She was still angry with Drake.

"I'm hurt, Christy. I came here to take you back with me."

"Well, if you aren't here to apologize, then I don't want to see you. Get out."

"Aw come on…" He said, as he crossed the room to be at Christy's side. "You know you can't resist me."

"Drake… Quit playing."

"Oh- It's not Drake anymore."

Christy's heart beat quickened. "Drake, you didn't…"

"Drake _did_. I'm Dark Heart now, and baby, it feels good to be back."

Christy gasped.

Dark Heart grabbed her hands. "I want you to come with me. I can give you whatever you want. We can be together, you can be the smartest girl in school! You could be a cheerleader, a soccer player, heck, I could even get you a spot on the football team if you want. Just come with me, Christy."

Christy laughed. "Oh, please, as if I'd fall for that one again, Dra- Dark Heart."

"Fine, we'll do this the hard way, then." Dark Heart brought out a magical pouch and swallowed Christy up in it before she even had a chance to fight back, just as he had with the CareBears so many years ago. He turned into a bird and flew away, clutching the bag in his talons.


	13. Chapter 13

Christy tried desperately to kick and punch and scratch her way out of the magical bag she was being contained in. No matter what she did, the bag could not be damaged. She screamed in angry and threw herself onto the ground.

"Dark Heart you better let me out of here! You're gonna get it, you-!"

Suddenly, light poured into the bag and Dark Heart pulled Christy out.

He chuckled. "What were you saying about you _getting_ me?"

Christy blushed in frustration. "Ugh! You! God, I really hate you. Whatever… so you have me now. What's the next part of your big plan?"

Dark Heart shrugged. "Corrupt the world, no big deal, really. I can do that in just a matter of days now that I'm this powerful." He snapped his fingers and turned into a tyrannosaurus for a moment. "See? I can turn into even more ferocious animals than I ever could before. And my power of corruption, well, it's already turned your whole town with just my mere presence."

Christy sighed and changed the subject. "Well, it's nice to see you've really cleaned up the place…" She commented sarcastically as she walked around Dark Heart's old lair. It was dusty, damp, and dark, just as it always was before. Christy's skin pricked. She felt as if the cave was watching her every move.

"I haven't exactly been able to get back in here since back then. My shadow couldn't unlock it by itself. But don't worry, I'll make it a little more _comfortable_ …"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What, you didn't think I was gonna lock you up in some cage, did you?"

"Well, yeah, I kinda did."

"I may be evil, but even I know that's no way to treat a lady. You can sleep in my bed."

"That's terribly chivalrous of you, Dark Heart. Where are you gonna sleep, then?"

"Next to you, of course!"

"Ugh, gross. I'd rather sleep in a cage, actually."

Dark Heart frowned. "You'd share a bed with Drake."

Christy stuttered in protest. "I- First of all, I would _not_. Second of all, _you_ aren't Drake. Drake was nice, you are evil."

"You didn't think he was so nice a few days ago."

"Yeah, well, he's nice compared to you. And he's socially awkward. It isn't his fault. And why does it matter if Drake likes Dawn more than me, anyway? I don't care."

Dark Heart grinned. "Kinda seems like you _do_ care."

"I-I don't! I'm just worried about how it'd turn out. I mean, Dawn already has this guy that she likes, it'd probably never work out for Drake."

Dark Heart walked over to Christy's side and placed an arm around her shoulder, and with the other hand he gently caressed her cheek. " _Drake_ may not like you, Christy, but _I_ do."

The moment was tense. Christy's face turned red hot as she pulled away from him and forced a laugh. "Oh please! _You_? And all jokes aside what makes you think I would want to be with you?"

Dark Heart scoffed and gestured to himself. "Uh, have you seen me lately?"

Christy laughed, for real this time.

Drake pouted. "Wha- Don't laugh!"

Of course, Christy laughed even harder. "Okay, okay, _that_ was rich." She wiped a few tears from her eyes.

Dark Heart smiled. "Only you…" He muttered to himself.

"Huh?" Christy asked, since she couldn't hear what he said.

"Oh, nothing. Well, if that's how you're gonna be, I'll have something else set up for you. For now, you can take a seat in my throne. I'll be back. And don't even _think_ about trying to escape, the door isn't even gonna be there until I return." Drake said as he left the lair.

Christy plopped down on the throne. "He really is full of himself, isn't he?"

"John! You better come see this!" Dawn shouted from her bedroom. John came through the door almost immediately.

"What is it, are you okay?" He asked frantically.

Dawn pointed towards the open window. "Look."

John took a few steps towards the window and peered down to the driveway. Tender Heart was waiting outside. John sighed. "I thought we were done… Let's go see what's up." They both ran down stairs.

"Mom! Dad! We're going out for a bit!" John shouted.

His mom replied, "Okay, be safe! Tell us if you'll be out past 10!"

When they got outside, they realized that something must have been extremely wrong. Tender Heart looked beaten up and worn out.

"Tender Heart… Are you okay?" Dawn asked as she knelt to his level.

The red bear shrugged. "I'm in a lot better shape than some of the other Bears… You two need to come back to Care-A-Lot, we need your help now more than ever."

"What happened?" John asked.

"Get in the car, I'll explain on the way."

The three of them piled into the cloud car and it sped off.

"We had Drake locked up, and we thought that would be the end of it as he learned to control his temptations. It turns out that we were wrong to leave him alone. He… He broke out of his cell, and destroyed Care-A-Lot…"

John and Dawn exchanged glances.

"But… That doesn't make any sense. Drake is a nice guy! He wouldn't do that." Dawn said.

Tender Heart sighed. "It wasn't Drake. Drake's shadow had managed to take over him, and he became Dark Heart once again. Only this time, he's more powerful and corrupt than ever. Everything is wrecked… It'll take us years to fix everything."

"What can we do? We're just two kids. I think Christy is the one you want, she and Dark Heart have a special relationship." John said.

"The thing is… we can't find Christy. She's nowhere on our radar. Which means…"

"No way- Drake _kidnapped_ her? That's horrible! John, what are we gonna do? What will we tell her parents?" Dawn replied, shocked.

John slammed his fist against the car. "Dang it, Drake… I'm gonna kill him!"

They passed through the clouds and entered Care-A-Lot. Just as Tender Heart said, everything was broken and gray, the only thing that could be heard was the sound of crying Bears. All the color had been drained away.

"It's even worse than before…" Tender Heart sighed as he got out of the car and looked around. "The more corrupt your world becomes, the less color our world has. You can already see that my fur is not as vibrant as it was when I picked you up."

"We need to find Christy." John said.

"I know. We're already working on it. Any Bear who is capable of flying is already out searching for her."

"Well, we need to be out there, too!" Dawn exclaimed.

Tender Heart shook his head. "We can't afford to lose you guys, too."

John was angry at that. "Well- then _why_ did you bring us here? What's the point?"

Tender Heart patted John's hand. "I know you're feeling a lot of emotions right now, John, but I promise that you are here for a reason. You two once took care of us when we were cubs, we'd really appreciate it if you could help take care of the injured Bears. When we locate Christy, we'll tell you immediately and you can help free her. But for now, please, help us fix this."

John clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He couldn't just let go of the fact that Christy had been kidnapped. He wanted to beat Dark Heart to a pulp. Dawn looked at John with concern. She gave him a hug and grabbed his hands. "John…" She said in a soothing tone, "John, it's okay. I'm sure that Christy is all right. Even Dark Heart would never actually hurt Christy on purpose. And I know that the CareBears will find her. And _when_ they find her, you can do whatever you want to Dark Heart. But I think right now the CareBears really need us to give them a hand."

John closed his eyes. He knew his sister was right. He knew that he had to do whatever he could to help the CareBears. He wouldn't forget about it, though. He swore to himself that he'd tear Dark Heart a new one when he finally saw him next. "Alright, take us to the Bears."

Tender Heart smiled. "Thank you, John, Dawn. We really appreciate it." He led them to the meeting hall, where all the Bears had been gathered. The injured ones lay on mats on the ground.

"I can't believe Dark Heart really did all this. He never hurt you guys like this before." Dawn said.

"We think it's because after becoming mortal, Drake was able to grow older, and now that he is older, he's capable of doing much worse things."

Dawn and John grabbed bandages and antiseptics out of the first aid kits and began dressing the wounds of the Bears. Many of them were bloodied, and some even had broken bones. Noble Heart showed them how to put the bones back into place and build splints to keep them that way. True Heart assured John and Dawn that they would be able to do all of this on their own, just like they did before. When they told Dawn and John everything they needed to know, True Heart, Noble Heart, and Tender Heart left to go look for Christy.


	14. Chapter 14

"Chriiiiisty!" Dark Heart sang as he entered his lair once again, "I'm hooooommmee!"

 _Oh good. My captor returns…_ Christy thought as she didn't even bother to reply. She had just begun to fall asleep when he came back and she was _not_ happy to be woken up.

"Christy- were you sleeping?" He asked.

"Well, I _was_."

Dark Heart chuckled. "Sorry- but now that I'm here, you won't be sleeping anyway."

"Oh really? And just why's that, exactly?" Christy scoffed.

Dark Heart put his arm around her. "Well, _I_ was thinking…"

"Oh, yeah right! You're disgusting!"

Dark Heart smirked. "Well, if you'd have let me finish, I would have said I was thinking about getting some food. _You're_ the gross one, get your mind outta the gutter, Christy!"

Christy blushed. "How was I supposed to- ugh. Whatever. Just- did you at least bring something for me to sleep on?"

"Oh right!" Dark Heart pulled out his magic pouch and somehow poured out a queen-sized bed. It looked really expensive.

"And uh… just how did you pay for this?"

Dark Heart laughed. "I didn't _pay_ for it."

"So you- you _stole_ a bed?"

"Yeah, what of it? It's just a bed. Everyone's doing it nowadays. I would know, I started that trend."

Christy rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "Well I'm not sleeping in that thing."

Dark Heart's expression darkened. "Fine! Don't sleep in it- what do I care if you're comfortable? I should have just locked you up from the beginning!" He stormed off.

"Sheesh, what a hot-head…" Christy muttered under her breath. At this point, she couldn't even muster the energy to be angry. She was so exhausted, she could literally sleep anywhere. She walked around the dark lair for a while until she came to a dead end. Deciding that it was as good a place as any, and that it was at least as far from Dark Heart as possible, she laid down on the floor, pulled her hat over her eyes, and fell fast asleep.

Dark Heart, on the other hand, was still fuming. He paced back and forth in his room, ranting to himself about Christy. "The most ungrateful… try to do a good thing… gah! So stupid!" He fell face-first into his bed. He was so confused. As a kid, everything was so easy. It was either you were evil or good, no back and forth. But now that Dark Heart was older, things were complicated. Despite his desire to do evil things, for whatever reason, he desperately wanted to make Christy happy.

When Christy woke up, she felt bad. Even if Dark Heart stole the bed, he was doing it with good intentions. She shouldn't discourage that. She got up and walked around until she found Dark Heart, who was sleeping in his bed. _He's kind of cute when he's asleep._

Christy put her hand on his shoulder. "Hey- wake up."

Dark Heart stirred in his sleep.

"Come on, wake up already. You've been asleep for, like, twelve hours."

Still nothing. Christy got closer to him and brushed his bangs away from his face. When he was asleep, he looked exactly like Drake. She involuntarily moved her head a little closer to his, she felt her pulse quicken.

Then she saw him pucker his lips.

"Ugh! You _were_ awake this whole time!" Christy shouted as she jumped away from him.

Dark Heart let out a loud laugh. "You were gonna kiss me!"

"I-I was not!" Christy blushed. "I was just checking to see if you were still breathing… with… my face."

Dark Heart smirked. "Uh huh, whatever gets you through the day, Christy."

"You know- I came down here to apologize, but I just realized, I don't have to. _You're_ the one who was and _still_ is being a total jerk."

Dark Heart sighed. "You're right, Chris."

"And you know what? I am so sick of- wait, did you just say that I'm right?"

"I did. I thought a lot about what happened last night. And you have no idea how hard it is for me to say this, but I _am_ sorry. Really. I shouldn't have gotten mad at you. And you shouldn't need to sleep on the floor. You can use my bed."

Christy smiled. "Apology accepted. But, you know, you could just let me go… I don't even know why you're keeping me here. Dawn and John and my parents are probably worried sick about me right now. If you're going to treat me like a guest, couldn't you just let me go and visit me every now and then?"

Dark Heart pouted. "You don't like staying with me? I thought we were having fun!"

"Well, I- I mean, it's not that… No, Dark Heart, girls don't like to be kidnapped. Let me go."

He sighed. "I can't. I need you. You're my bait. I didn't get a chance to finish off the CareBears when I left Care-A-Lot. With those Bears still around, I can never take over the world. I need them in this dark realm where I can keep their goodness under lock and key."

Christy folded her arms. "What about _my_ goodness? Are you just going to keep me in here forever? You know your influence doesn't work on me, or John and Dawn. It didn't last time."

"I guess I hadn't thought about that. But I'm quite confident you'll succumb to my darkness. You just need to trust me." He put his arm around her shoulder.

Christy brushed his arm away. "Smooth. But I'm going to have to decline. I like nice guys."

"That's not how you felt just five minutes ago." Dark Heart grinned.

"Yeah, I was only being nice to you because you look like Drake when you're not conscious and being annoying. Now that you're awake, I don't want anything to do with you."

Dark Heart nodded sarcastically. "Well, whatever, I have to get to work now. I'll see ya later, Chris."

He turned into a shadow and flew out of the lair, the door disappearing behind him.

"What, exactly, are you doing?" The shadow asked.

"What?" Dark Heart asked, confused.

The shadow frowned. "You're just messing around. We have enough power to take over the world now, and you're wasting your time with that girl. You need to get rid of her."

"Well, we can't just let her go, we need her as bait, remember?"

"That's not what I meant, kid."

"Oh… I see… Shadow, I'm not going to kill her. First of all, we need her alive, and second, I-"

"I know what the second thing is. She's a distraction. You should have taken Dawn instead."

Dark Heart sighed. "That's not what the second thing was. And it's not my fault that Drake is still in here somewhere. Maybe we should just get rid of _him_."

"Drake is the one with the powers and the physical body. Without him, neither of us could exist. You just need to find a way to shut him up."

Dark Heart pondered silently to himself. He was so sick of Drake Hartley. That goodie two shoes was always getting in the way of every bad deed he tried to do, and he somehow managed to woo Christy and make her completely forget about Dark Heart. He wished there was a way to permanently rid himself of Drake but he knew the shadow was right: unfortunately, Dark Heart could only exist when Drake exists with his shadow.

The shadow wanted to make Dark Heart see the big picture. "You need to pull yourself together. As long as that human girl is around, Drake is going to continue to fight you, and we'll never be able to realize our full potential. Once we have the CareBears, you _will_ take her out of the picture. And then, we can finally achieve our dream."

"And what exactly is our dream?" Dark Heart asked.

"What do you mean? Our dream has always been to cause chaos throughout the world and rule it, sucking all of the negative energy to increase our own power."

Dark Heart sighed. Was that really what he wanted? After all this time, he wasn't so sure anymore.


	15. Chapter 15

"So you found her?" John shouted.

True Heart and Noble Heart nodded. "As we suspected, Dark Heart returned to his old lair at the campground. We haven't been able to find the entrance yet, but we can feel his presence."

Dawn shook her head. "How stupid can that guy get? Shacking up at the same place?"

Noble Heart nodded. "We thought the same as you, Dawn, and we almost didn't even try to look there. But True Heart reminded me that Dark Heart was just a boy when he was there, and adults are quite sentimental about things like that."

"He's also incredibly dramatic. Staying in his old lair would be too ironic for him to pass up." True Heart continued.

"That's _definitely_ true." Dawn said. "Alright, well, what do you need?"

"I trust that the injured CareBears have been attended to?"

John and Dawn nodded.

"Perfect. Then we need you two to round up any of the Bears who can stand and come with us to the camp ground. We're going to need all of the power we can get if we want to destroy the new-and-improved Dark Heart."

True Heart and Noble Heart explained their plan to the twins. Just like back then, they planned to stake out Dark Heart's lair until he returned, and using the Heart and Star Buddies, sneak in behind him and take him by surprise. If it worked once, it was bound to work again, or at least, that was the hope.

Dawn and John immediately went to find Bears who could help save Christy. John was especially concerned.

"John, you're going to work yourself into a fever if you keep going on like that." Dawn said, with concern in her voice.

"What do you mean?"

Dawn gestured to John's body. "Look at you. Your fists are clenched tight, your jaw looks like it's trying to crush your teeth. I think I can actually see your stomach turning in knots."

John hadn't realized he was doing any of that. He did his best to relax his muscles. "I'm sorry- I'm just really worried about Christy. And _really_ mad at that Dark Heart."

"I'm worried about her, too, John." Dawn sighed. "But we can't let this hang over us. Christy needs us to have clear minds right now. We can't let our emotions keep us from doing what we need to do."

"My anger will help me beat the crap outta Dark Heart, not stop me from doing it."

"You're not going to be thinking straight if you're so upset. I garuntee you, if you and Dark Heart get in a fight, you'll get so caught up in your anger that you'll fall on your face, look like an idiot, and most importantly lose the fight and fail Christy."

John stopped walking for a moment. His shoulders slumped. "Maybe you're right, Dawn…"

Dawn grabbed his arm. "Alright, well don't go all down in the dumps either! We still need you. Just… loosen up and relax a bit. 'Kay?"

John smiled at his sister. "I'll do my best."

"Great! Now let's go gather up those CareBears!"

* * *

Dark Heart banged his head against the wall of the one of the cabins. "Oh my _God_ , shadow, _please_ shut up!"

The shadow laughed. "Not until you agree to do as I say. You know that I am right. That girl must die, and you are the one who has to kill her."

"I-I can't, shadow! There's no way I could…"

"Yes you can. Listen to your mind, you know that it's the only way to obtain our ultimate goal of world chaos and destruction. She will never succumb as you think she will. She cannot. She and her friends are pure beings that darkness simply can't touch. You're running a fool's errand by trying to convert her."

Dark Heart sighed. "I guess… you _are_ right, shadow… But how can I kill her? It's like… something in the universe is preventing me from doing anything bad to her."

"It's not the universe, it's Drake. How about this, you set up the traps, and when it comes time, _I_ will do the deed for you?"

Dark Heart nodded with a heavy heart. "Okay, shadow. I think… I think I can do that."

He entered his lair and found Christy asleep in his bed. She looked so cute, sleeping so peacefully like that. He stretched his hand out towards her, but then pulled away. His mind was buzzing with terrible thoughts, and he knew that he had no right to think of her so fondly. He had no right to even be in the same room as her. Dark Heart stole one more look at Christy before leaving.

The shadow knew that the CareBears were coming. Once again, the CareBears were going to fall right into his clutches. All Dark Heart had to do was place a few traps. Setting up the snares that would capture the CareBears was easy. Dark Heart wanted nothing more than to capture and vanquish at last those infuriating, naïve bears. Their goodness was just… too much. What was so wrong with a little bad anyway?

Setting up Christy's on the other hand… Dark Heart could feel Drake fight every movement, and there was something else, too. Dark Heart couldn't quite place it, but there was more than just Drake fighting him. With the shadow's help, he was able to get it done. All he had to do now was get Christy into the cage, somehow.

"Dark Heart…? Are you in here?" Christy said, still sleepy.

He jumped. He wasn't expecting her to be up so soon. "Uh- yeah, I'm here, Chris. What's up?" He tried to cover up the cage by walking towards her. He put his arm around her and turned her away from it. She was still too tired to notice.

"You didn't greet me! I was waiting for you to come back, dummy."

What was Christy saying? Why was she being so nice? Dark Heart felt confused and conflicted by her behavior. "Y-You were waiting for _me_?"

"Well, yeah, there's nothing to do around here… So, I kinda missed you."

"God, Christy…" Dark Heart whispered to himself. "What are you doing to me…?"

Christy cocked her head. "Huh? What was that?"

"Don't worry about it. Someone's still pretty tired. Maybe you should go back to sleep?" He started leading her out of the room. He really didn't want her seeing the cage just yet.

"No, no, come on. I'm soooo bored! Let's hang out! You can show me some tricks with your magic or something." Christy turned herself around and stopped in her tracks when she saw the cage. She pulled away from him, and gave him a betrayed look.

Dark Heart grabbed her hand. "Christy, wait- it's not!"

"Oh, it's not what I think? Is that what you were going to say? So it's not a human-sized cage that you were going to put me in?" Christy said, her arms folded.

Drake's eyes looked at the ground. "Well… I guess it is what you think… But Christy-"

"I really… thought that you had changed, Dark Heart. But I was wrong." Christy sighed. She looked at the cage, then back at Dark Heart. "If this is what you want, then I'll do it."

"Christy… You're not even going to fight me?"

Christy chuckled. "You act as if I have a choice. What am I going to do, flick a marble in your face? Yell at you until I have my way? Please. Let me at least do it willingly."

Dark Heart fought back tears as he watched Christy lock herself in the cage he made for her. Ashamed, he began to walk away without saying another word to her. As he was leaving, he heard Christy shout, "But I'm not giving up on you yet!"

Dark Heart stopped walking.

"I won't give up until you see that there's a better way… So yeah, you win for now. But don't think for a moment that I'm going to let you win it all."

He started tearing up again as he continued to walk away. _Just what is this girl doing to me?_

The shadow came back from his recon mission. "Dark Heart, it's time. The CareBears are staking the place out, just waiting for you to leave. I trust everything has been prepared?"

Dark Heart choked out a "yes". The shadow joined back with Dark Heart's body, and Dark Heart left his lair and headed out into the woods. All they had to do now was wait for those Bears to take the bait.

"Are you ready for me to take over, Dark Heart?" The shadow asked.

Dark Heart gulped. He knew he'd never be able to hurt Christy on his own, but he really didn't want to let the shadow have complete control. Then again, what the shadow wants and what he wants are the same, right? Dark Heart was so conflicted. He didn't even know if ruling the world and taking away goodness was what he wanted anymore.

"Dark Heart, you know you need to do this. Just release control. When you come back again, everything will have been taken care of, and you'll think clearly again."

"Okay… Okay. Shadow, I give you control."

* * *

"Did the Heart and Star Buddies make it in?" Dawn asked True Heart.

"Yes… I think so." True Heart replied. A Star Buddy shone brightly in the distance. "Look! There's the signal! The door is open- let's go everyone!"

The CareBears and Cousins that were healthy enough to get to the campgrounds stormed into the lair and searched for Christy, along with John and Dawn.

They found her, sitting in the cage.

John ran up to it. "Christy! Are you alright? That jerk didn't hurt you or anything, did he? I'm telling you, Chris, when I see him I'm going to beat him to a pulp."

"John- John, I'm fine, really. He didn't hurt me at all." Christy reached out for his hand and held it tight.

Dawn was so happy to see that Christy was okay. "Thank goodness, Christy. I was so worried. That Dark Heart is so shady, I'm glad he didn't do anything. We're going to get you out of here."

The Star Buddies flew over to pick the lock on the cage, but as soon as they touched it, an alarm sounded, and more cages fell from the sky, trapping everyone.

"Oh no! Now what do we do?" Dawn screamed.

"We should have seen this coming…" Tender Heart said. "This is just like before."

The alarm turned off. The sound of slow footsteps could be heard as Dark Heart entered the room. "Well, well, well…" Dark Heart started to laugh. "I mean, I really didn't think you guys would fall for the same old trick _again_ but, man, here you all are! And John and Dawn, too? Isn't this a treat? The whole gang all in one room."

John clenched his fists. "Dark Heart! I swear, when I get outta here-"

"You'll, what, _kill_ me? Please. Just calm down, kid. You're way out of your league."

Dawn was upset, too. "I can't believe you would do this to us! We were your friends!"

"I don't need friendship, Dawn, not when I have a world to rule. Now, I don't have time to answer each and every one of your complaints, so let's just say that you all hate me, I'm never going to get away this, and I'd reply that you are all going to die. Sound good? _Fantastic_. Let's start with the girl."

* * *

I apologize for the long hiatus- but I am back now and will be finishing up this story with consistent updates every week! Thank you to all my readers and reviewers for sticking with me!


	16. Chapter 16

"Get away from my sister!" John yelled as Dark Heart opened the cage long enough to pull Dawn out of it. John threw himself at Dark Heart but an invisible force slammed John into the back wall of the cage. John groaned. "Dawn! Fight him!"

Dawn kicked and screamed and did whatever she could to try and get herself out of Dark Heart's clutches. All Dark Heart did was laugh. "You really think you can squirm your way free? Just who do you think you're dealing with, right now, Dawn?"

Dawn didn't stop kicking. She couldn't spare the energy to speak more than a few grunts.

"Aw- you're cute when you're angry." He set her down on the floor. Dawn tried to run, but something was holding her in place. "Now, then. I could ensnare all of you at once but… Well, that'd just be no fun. John, are you watching? I don't want you to miss the last time you'll ever see your sister."

John swore at Dark Heart and began ramming into the cage door, but he had no luck in forcing it open.

Dark Heart sighed. "You humans never learn… See ya, pigtails." Dark Heart snapped his fingers and Dawn disappeared. John covered his mouth with his hand and fell to the floor, tears streaming down his face.

"Now, you, John." Dark Heart approached John's cage. John frantically scrambled to the back of it. "I don't actually need to let you out in order to get rid of you; that was just for fun, too." Dark Heart snapped his fingers again and John was gone.

Christy stared at the ground, saying nothing.

"What, the loud and obnoxious little _girl_ has nothing to say? No witty remarks? No lectures?" Dark Heart said as he walked towards Christy's cage. Christy turned her back to him. "I liked you more when you were feisty, Christy. There's really no point in keeping you around, then, is there?"

Dark Heart began to send her away, but Tender Heart shouted, "Wait!"

"Oh, what is it, now?"

"You don't need to do this, Dark Heart. Christy is your friend! She believes in you!"

"Huh, but I remember her storming out of the room when I needed her most. Tell me, CareBears, is that what friends do? Abandon the ones they love? Maybe if any one of you would have shown me some real compassion, we wouldn't be here right now."

"You're right, Dark Heart. We should have listened, we should have helped you more. But I know that Christy cares about you. We all do!" Tender Heart replied.

Dark Heart laughed. "You CareBears… you think that people really want your insincere kindness, your mind-numbing lectures? Do you think that those things really make the world better? Because I can tell you that no matter how hard you work, there are still bad people. People like, well, me. And we _love_ being bad. Your pathetic attempts at friendship will never change me." He turned back to face Christy. Reaching his hand into the cage, he grabbed her chin and pulled it up so Christy would look at him. " _There's_ that defiant look he fell in love with. I was hoping you hadn't given up yet. That would really disappoint him, you know."

Christy jerked her face away from him again. "Quit playing, Dark Heart. Put your money where your mouth is. I'm sick of the sound of your voice."

"Oh- is that a hint of a threat I'm hearing? Don't tell me you're not afraid of what's about to happen."

"I think _you're_ the one who's afraid. I can see it in your eyes. You don't want to kill me, because you're terrified of once again becoming that lonely little boy you used to be. Just admit it, you need me."

Dark Heart let out a bellowing laugh. "Me? Need _you_? You, an insignificant, powerless, goody-two-shoes little girl? Now, _that_ is rich."

Christy grinned. "That's right. I may be insignificant, powerless, and a goody-two-shoes, but… not to you. I'm the most important thing in your life."

Dark Heart chuckled. "And people say _I'm_ full of myself. Alright, well, I've wasted enough time here. Say goodbye to your Bear friends, Christy."

"Think again, Dark Heart!" Tender Heart yelled.

Dark Heart turned around to see the Bears lined up, out of their cages. "How? How is that possible?"

"Your cages aren't exactly fool-proof. Our Star Buddies made easy work of them while you were busy with Christy."

Dark Heart turned around and glared at Christy, who was now out of her cage, as well. He began to snap his fingers, but before he could, the Bears did a CareBear Stare. Dark Heart cried out in pain.

Christy turned away. She didn't want to see Dark Heart get hurt. As much as she knew it had to happen, she still felt attached to him, and she didn't want him to be gone forever. She thought back on all the things he said to her. Christy knew that there was no way that was really the Dark Heart she knew. She didn't know how, but something was different.

"Dark Heart said, 'he'…" Christy said, thinking out loud. "He said, 'he'! Not 'I', not 'they'. _That means…_ _That's not Dark Heart, and that's not Drake._

Christy whipped around to see Dark Heart collapsed to the ground, clutching his heart as the CareBears' stares and calls enveloped him in light. "Stop!" She screamed as she ran over to Dark Heart, placing her arms around him. "Please, stop!"

The CareBears couldn't hear or see Christy, they just kept going. The heat coming from the bright light burned her skin.

"Dark Heart. I know you're in there somewhere. I know that you are not whatever it is that's controlling you right now." She hugged him tightly. "Please, if you're in there, come back to me!"

Dark Heart screamed as the stares only became more intense. "Christy! Get… away from me!"

"Push the shadow out! You don't need him anymore!" Christy got in front of Dark Heart, shielding him briefly from the light.

Dark Heart opened his eyes and looked at Christy for a second, the pain momentarily lessened. The shadow fought desperately to make everyone disappear, to erase Christy and the Bears from the world once and for all, but Dark Heart was fighting back against the shadow now.

"Come on, Dark Heart! You can do it! I believe in you, I _always_ have! Remember?"

Dark Heart's mind was flooded of the memory of him and Christy as kids, back at camp. She had saved his life. _His_ life, the life of the person who was practically holding her hostage. She didn't have to, and she shouldn't have, but she did. "Evil or not, you're still a person." That was what she said to him. His eyes flooded with tears. Dark Heart refused to let her down. Finding the strength, he began fighting even harder.

Christy watched Dark Heart and the shadow struggle for dominance over Drake's body. After a minute she could see that Dark Heart was losing the fight. "Dark Heart! Don't stop! Don't give in! I _won't_ lose you! Whether you're Dark Heart or you're Drake Hartley, you're my best friend and I… I love you!" She wrapped her arms around Dark Heart and kissed him, passionately.

Dark Heart looked into Christy's eyes and pulled away. "Step aside, Christy!" He groaned.

Christy shook her head. "What are you saying, the light will kill you!"

"Move… now!" Dark Heart screamed as he pushed her away. The light enveloped him again. Dark Heart screamed even louder in pain, and then fell silent.

Christy ran over to the CareBears and begged them to stop. The CareBears, seeing that the fight was over, stopped their stare. "We heard him stop screaming. That must mean…"

Tender Heart walked towards Dark Heart's body. Christy looked at the ground, tears forming in her eyes. "Is he…?" Christy asked, almost too afraid to know the answer.

Tender Heart was in stunned silence.

"Is he? Tell me!" Christy demanded.

"He's… alive. This is… unprecedented." Tender Heart said as he stepped backward away from Dark Heart, afraid of his body springing back to its feet.

Christy looked at Dark Heart and ran to him. She knelt at his side and cradled his head on her lap. "Dark Heart… wake up… Please…"

After a few moments, Dark Heart stirred awake. His eyes fluttered open. "Christy…"

"Oh, Dark Heart!" She said, delighted.

"Christy! You need to get away from him. He's going to kill us!"

"No… Look at his eyes!" Christy said as Tender Heart and the other Bears walked closer to them. "His eyes are blue now, not red."

"Then that means…" Tender Heart began.

"That means that this isn't Dark Heart, it's Drake."

Drake smiled up at Christy. "You saved me, again."

"Good or bad, Drake." Christy said, smiling down at him, too.

Christy helped Drake to his feet. "So… this isn't going to happen again, is it?"

"No. Never again."

Tender Heart furrowed his brow. "How can you be so sure?"

Drake sighed. "I realized something, while you were trying to kill me. I realized that Drake, Dark Heart, and the shadow are not different people. The reason why it didn't work the first time is because the shadow and I were separated. Drake was the good part of me, never would hurt a fly. The shadow was the evil part of me. And the Dark Heart Christy got to know really well over the past few days, he was closer to my personality, my core self. I'm not stable without all three of those pieces. Centuries ago, when all of this began, my pieces became separated somehow. Once you weakened the shadow, I was able to take control and piece us all back together."

Christy was _very_ confused. "Um… that went right over my head…"

"Basically, no human is entirely bad, or entirely good. We need both. And more importantly, we need to learn how to control our bad sides. Good will always overpower evil. Once I realized that, the shadow couldn't control me anymore."

"Wait… you were saying that Dark Heart was your 'core self'… so, who _are_ you?" Christy asked.

"Well, I'm Drake. We're the same person. Same memories, same desires. Think of me as a hybrid. You'll be getting all of Dark Heart's raw, animal magnetism with all of Drake's sweet sensitivity."

"Oh, God… Well, one thing's for sure, you haven't changed a bit." Christy laughed as she gave Dark Heart a hug.

"Oh- and I forgot one thing. Lucky for you guys, Drake was a sorcerer _before_ this mess with my shadow happened. Which means, I still have my powers, and…" Drake snapped his fingers, and John and Dawn reappeared in the room.

"John, Dawn!" Christy said as she ran to them and gave them both a huge hug.

John moved Christy away and punched Drake right in the face, sending Drake to the ground.

"John! Stop!" Christy screamed. She did her best to stop John from beating Drake up.

"Christy, step aside! Now's our chance to stop him from taking over the world!"

"John, you don't understand. He's not evil anymore! That's Drake! He's back to normal, now." Christy pleaded.

John took a look at Drake and sighed. "Well, you ask me, he still deserves to be whooped." John reached down and helped Drake back up. "Sorry, man."

Drake rubbed his jaw. "Nah, you're right. I did deserve that, and more. I'm sorry I imprisoned you guys. I'm glad I decided to wait to kill you all at once."

John let out a nervous chuckle. "Me too, dude."

There was a brief silence. Christy clapped her hands together. "Well, how about we get out of this place? I haven't seen sunlight in _forever_. And I'm dying for a cheeseburger."

The Bears and the kids walked out of the lair. Drake took one last look at the door. "Well, I won't be needing this place anymore." He worked a spell, and the door disappeared. "It's gone for good, now."

The CareBears flew John, Dawn, and Christy back to their hometown. Drake knelt down to talk to the Bears. "Listen, guys… I'm really sorry for what I did, to you and to Care-A-Lot. Let me fix it up for you, let me make it right."

Tender Heart smiled. "It's okay, Drake, we forgive you. Though I don't think it's a good idea for you to return to Care-A-Lot, not yet."

"What do you mean? Where will I live? What will I do?"

"Last time I checked, you still haven't finished high school. It's time for you to live your life as humans do. On Earth. For good, this time. We can take care of ourselves, so don't you worry about us. We've already set you up with a place to stay, you will go to Christy's school."

Drake blushed. "That wouldn't be _so_ bad… But… I just feel horrible about what happened."

"We know that it wasn't your fault. And we're relieved that you will no longer be a threat to humanity. Go and live your life, someday this will all just be a bad memory."

"Will I ever see you guys again?"

Tender Heart grabbed Drake's hand. "I don't know. Humans don't belong in our realm, Drake."

Drake felt tears forming in his eyes again. "I see. So, this is it, then?"

Tender Heart smiled. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

Drake hugged the Bears one by one. They were his family. He was sad to see them go, but he knew that Tender Heart was right. They watched the Bears fly away in their cloud cars.

Christy put her arm around Drake's shoulder.

John and Dawn backed away slowly. "We're gonna head out, you two gonna be alright?"

Christy blushed. "Yeah, I think we'll be alright."

John and Dawn left for their home, leaving Christy and Drake alone.

"Listen, Christy… I want to tell you something, and I need you to really listen to me this time."

"Okay, shoot." Christy replied.

"You've been mad at me for a while over something Dawn told you I said to her. I need you to know that it wasn't me who said that. The shadow pretended to be me; he wanted you to be mad at me so that I'd turn. I'm sorry you had to wait so long to hear the truth."

Christy smiled. "I knew you'd never do something like that."

Drake pulled Christy into an embrace. "Now… about what you said back there…"

Christy gulped. "Oh my God, you remember that? I was just saying things to get you to beat the shadow, I swear it didn't actually mean- I mean there's no way I could-"

Drake kissed her. "I love you, too, silly."


End file.
